Foreign fighters in Syria have doubled since 2014

The number of foreigners heading to Syria from Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the globe has doubled since the summer of 2014, according to a new consultant analysis.

Between 27,000 and 31,000 people from 86 countries have traveled to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and similar organizations, the Soufan Group estimated in a report released on Tuesday. 

{mosads}Additionally, roughly 20 to 30 percent of those Westerners eventually return home, the consulting firm said.

The findings underscore the growing challenge posed by ISIS’s appeal to radicals from all over the globe and raise doubts about international efforts to stop the flow.

“The challenge to the international community remains, and will be harder to meet as foreign fighters become more adept at disguising their movements and more uncertain in their future intentions,” analysts wrote.

Foreigners streaming into Syria have posed one of the greatest challenges for the U.S. and its global allies trying to halt ISIS’s march in the Middle East. The extremist group has been particularly savvy at using social media as a propaganda tool, which has had a major effect on its recruiting numbers in the U.S.

According to the new analysis, the flow of recruits from different parts of the world has varied widely.

Portions of North Africa and Western Europe have become “hotbeds” of recruitment, the report asserted, pointing to areas of Brussels, Tunisia and Norway that have sent a disproportionate number of fighters to ISIS’s self-proclaimed caliphate. Additionally, the influx of fighters from areas of Russia and Central Asia may have risen by nearly 300 percent since June 2014.

Recruitment from North America, however, has remained “relatively flat.”

Still, at least 250 people have attempted to go to the region from the U.S., the analysis said, citing FBI data, and 40 have returned.

National security officials have repeatedly warned about the danger posed by foreigners who go to Iraq and Syria, become embedded in ISIS’s ranks and then return home.

For the time being, “the great majority” of ISIS recruits “continue to go to Syria with the intention of acting there rather than training to become domestic terrorists,” the Soufan Group maintained.

However, last month’s violence in Paris, which killed 130 people, “may reflect a growing trend of overseas terrorism being planned and organized” from the Middle East, it added, which officials are sure to find concerning.