In April, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation published an article by Djallil Lounnas titled ‘The North African Foreign Fighter Returnees After the Fall of al-Assad’s Regime: Risks, Challenges and Scenarios’. The article looks at ‘notorious’ Libyan foreign fighters in Syria, who formed their own IS force, Katibat Al Battar Al Libi (KBL), participating in several decisive battles of the group between 2013-early 2014. Hundreds of KBL fighters were sent back to Libya in the mid-2014 in order to create an IS affiliate in North Africa, merging with local Libyan jihadi factions in the city of Derna. Now the fall of the Assad regime in Syria raises questions about the future of such groups and the potential scenarios of their return to their home countries.
Read the full article here.