WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Foreign fighters who fought for Daesh in Iraq and Syria threaten the Indo-Asia-Pacific region as they return home from the battlefield, US Pacific Command Commander Adm. Harry Harris said on Tuesday.
“There are a number of foreign fighters that have come out of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to go to the fight in the Middle East…and those who we don’t kill as we close down on ISIS [Daesh] in the Middle East, they are going to come back home…and they are coming back radicalized and weaponized,” Harris stated. "The threat is real."
The commander noted that Daesh is rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific, while the number of foreign fighters who came from the region amounts to approximately 3,000 people.
Harris noted the US Special Operations Command Pacific is working with the countries involved in the region to address the problem of the returning fighters.
Daesh is a designated terrorist organization and is outlawed in the United States, Russia and numerous other countries.
