Progress Seen in Stemming Flow of Foreign Fighters to IS

Efforts to stem the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria may be starting to have impact, though there are concerns some would-be jihadists are now looking to join the battle elsewhere.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this week that an estimated 25,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 countries had traveled to take part in the conflict, including more than 4,500 from Western countries.

Both numbers are up from the previous estimates, released in March, when intelligence officials said there were more than 22,000 foreign fighters, including at least 3,700 from the West.

Officials point out that while the number of Americans looking to take part in the conflict in Syria has also risen — up to more than 250 — the estimate includes people who were stopped from making the journey or who are being monitored after having returned to the U.S.

Such efforts, along with what analysts say is a high rate of attrition among foreign fighters, seem to be helping to slowly eat away at the capacity of terror groups, like the self-declared Islamic State.

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“It’s not operating at the same capacity that it was a year ago,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterror analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  “It’s lost territory. It seems to have lost money.”

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