UK police will have to deal with the threat of British fighters returning from Syria for "many years", a top Scotland Yard officer has told the BBC.
Met Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick said the conflict represented a "long-term" terrorist threat.
She said young British Muslims might commit violence on their return.
Her comments came after an apparent internet recruitment video for jihadists in Syria and Iraq appeared to feature several Britons.
The video was posted by internet accounts linked to militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), which has a presence in Syria and is engaged in fierce fighting with Iraqi government forces.
One of the men in the video has been identified as aspiring medical student Nasser Muthan, 20, from Cardiff.
'Easy jihad'Speaking to BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend, Ms Dick - who is currently head of specialist operations including counter terrorism at the Met - warned Britain would face "the consequences" of the conflict in Syria for years.
More than 50 people have been arrested in the UK since 2013 for alleged Syria-related offences.
But Ms Dick would not be drawn on the extent to which UK police have already had to confront security threats from British jihadists fighting in the Middle East.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
MI5 are devoting the greatest amount of their casework to tracking jihadists leaving the UK for Syria - and returning, as Frank Gardner reports
She said: "I'm afraid I believe that we will be living with the consequences of Syria - from a terrorist point of view, let alone the world, geopolitical consequences - for many, many, many years to come."
Ms Dick said that until a few weeks ago police believed around 460 Britons had gone to fight in Syria, but said the figure could now have climbed to around 500.
She said her message to anyone thinking of travelling to Syria or Iraq to join the fighting was not to go, saying Syrian people regarded foreign fighters as a problem not a solution.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said the big question was whether the situation was going to "bounce back here to the UK".
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "Although the British government has said 'We're not going to get involved militarily' in Iraq, we are fooling ourselves if we think that we are going to be immune from any backlash.
"The West is seen as being all part of one thing by these jihadists... We're all going to get it, if we are seen as being taking sides as combatants."
He said jihadists from the UK made their way to Syria easily via cheap flights to Turkey or Cyprus, what he called "easy jihad".
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis)
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Isis fighters have been pushing towards Iraq's capital, Baghdad
Isis grew out of an al-Qaeda-linked organisation in Iraq
- Estimated 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria
- Joined in its offensives by other Sunni militant groups, including Saddam-era officers and soldiers, and disaffected Sunni tribal fighters
- Exploits standoff between Iraqi government and the minority Sunni Arab community, which complains that Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is monopolising power
- Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an obscure figure regarded as a battlefield commander and tactician
Nasser's father, Ahmed Muthana, said his son left the UK to fight in Syria in November, telling BBC Wales that his 17-year-old younger son, Aseel, had also travelled to the country.
Mr Muthana said he was "heartbroken" Nasser had left the UK to fight in Syria. He said he feared his sons would "come back to me in a coffin".
He described his son - who had been offered places by four universities to study medicine - as quiet, well-educated and intelligent.
He said another man in the video, which cannot be verified, was someone he recognised from Cardiff.
Barak Al Bayaty, a trustee for one of the Cardiff mosques attended by Nasser Muthana, said the Britons might have been radicalised via the internet.
'Potentially vulnerable'Alyas Karmani, an imam and independent city councillor in Bradford, said the government should take some responsibility for what was happening.
He said: "One of the challenges that we have is that we haven't got enough counter messaging out there.
"We are not reaching this group of young people who are potentially vulnerable to this radicalisation. And one of the reasons is because a lot of agencies that were providing that counter messaging about two or three years ago had their funding cut by the government."
South Wales Police said they were "increasingly concerned" about the number of young people travelling to Syria, but the issue was not unique to Cardiff or Wales.
"The advice is to avoid all travel to Syria - anyone who does travel is putting themselves in considerable danger," they said in a statement, warning those who engaged in terror-related activities would be prosecuted.
Tracking British jihadists fighting in Syria is now the top priority for the security service, MI5.
Police across the UK have made 65 Syria-related arrests over the last 18 months, including 40 in the first three months of this year.
Meanwhile, an estimated 5,000 young people from across the UK are attending a residential event in Surrey this weekend organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association to rally against radical Islam and pledge their loyalty to Britain.
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can send us your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "Isis".
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
UK Syria fighters a 'long-term threat'
Dengan url
http://gayabugarsehat.blogspot.com/2014/06/uk-syria-fighters-long-term-threat.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
UK Syria fighters a 'long-term threat'
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
UK Syria fighters a 'long-term threat'
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar