Over the last five years, a rise in radicalizing forces in the Western Balkans has manifested in the emergence of the foreign fighter phenomenon – the single most obvious indication of radicalization into violent extremism in the region. This has brought new security challenges and risks, including the departures of citizens to rebel-held territories in the Middle East. While some of these individuals are women, children, and elderly people who have not become foreign fighters, it is believed that from the end of 2012 through the beginning of 2016, up to 950 persons from Western Balkans countries travelled to Syria and Iraq.

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