ISIS News 2017: Foreign Fighters Abandon ISIS as 'Caliphate' Loses Ground
Sources from within the Islamic State (IS) have revealed that the group's numbers in defensive positions in Syria have been declining rapidly as the ground offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) starts to penetrate Raqqa and Tabqa. Foreign ISIS members, who are mainly deployed in these front lines, have contacted embassies in an attempt to return from Syria, Turkish and European officials said.
Foreign fighters and other supporters of the Islamic State has been abandoning the radical group and are trying to enter Turkey, according to an exclusive report by The Guardian. Among them is Stefan Aristidou and his wife, who are British nationals from Enfield in north London, and Kary Paul Kleman from Florida. The group has been arrested by Turkish police in the town of Kilis in Turkey, a short distance from Syria.
Aristidou spoke in an interview with Sky News about his life ever since he joined the Islamic State up to his arrest in Turkey. The British national denied fighting on behalf of the terror organization. "In the camp they are kept in harsh conditions. They are taken through Islamic training then they are taught why they need to fight," Aristidou said.
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"It's kind of like, 'We can do what we want with you' — and you are in no position to say no. It's not a test, there is no escape, it's a prison," he added. Aristidou has been regarded as missing since he left his Enfield home to run to Cyprus two years ago.
About 30,000 foreign recruits are believed to have arrived in Syria to fight on behalf of ISIS, while the United States government estimates that 25,000 of them have been killed in the course of the conflict. Meanwhile, the conflict has stalled between the Iraqi-led forces and the terror group as fighting continues north-west of the city of Mosul.
