Maghreb governments are cracking down on jihadists and people with travel history to Syria.
"We don't have exact figures for those who have returned, but they are estimated to number around 400," said Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou on Monday (February 24th).
"But we are following them very closely. We have built up a database... They have acquired experience and training and must be monitored," he said after meeting with lawmakers.
Ben Jeddou's declaration came on the heels of the escape of a wanted terrorist to Libya after national guards units and counter-terrorism agency teams failed to apprehend him after they surrounded Ettawba mosque in Tunis' Jebel Lahmer neighbourhood last month.
Ansar al-Sharia's second-in-command Kamel Zarrouk has now arrived in Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Zarrouk, in his 40's, made his first appearance as a khatib in 2011. He started to travel and give lectures, from Bizerte to Sousse to Zaghouan, including one in which he likened Osama Bin Laden to the prophet's companions.
"Before the emir turned to salafism years ago, he used to work as a guard at a nightclub in Tunis," his neighbour Khaled, a security agent, told Magharebia. Zarrouk is known in his neighbourhood as someone who encouraged young people to go for jihad in Syria, which he considers to be the springboard for establishing an Islamic state from the Gulf to the ocean.
This has prompted some parents to go to court to stop him from preaching extremist ideas to their children, glorifying a path of jihad and ultimately death in Syria.
Maha Abd Hamid, 48, told Magharebia, "Travel to Syria has become a nightmare for me because my 19-year-old son is fascinated by jihadists and follows their news on social networking sites. This prompted us to watch him constantly."
"My son prays at the mosque regularly, but I fear some elements who attract youth at mosques, so his dad watches him even at the mosque," she added.
The number of Tunisian fighters in Syria is near 5,000. Interior Minister Ben Jeddou recently confirmed that "8,000 jihadists were prevented from going to Syria."
The biggest concern among security officials and observers is the return of those fighters to Tunisia. The government has yet to identify a clear strategy for dealing with them and reintegrating them into society "so they don't turn into time bombs that may explode any moment", Tunisia's Echourouk daily reported on February 9th.
Tunisia is not aloneMaghreb governments and civil society are trying hard to prevent hundreds of young men from going to the Syrian front to fight alongside the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"Maghreb governments are living varying degrees of maximum alert, not only because their young people went to Syria to fight, but also because they fear those young men may turn into a threat to their countries once they return from the front after receiving various military training," Tarik Benyaoui, a Tunisian security specialist, told Magharebia.
Dr Kabad Ould Abdel Rahman, a researcher in Maghreb affairs said, "Trying to build nations according to extremist ideologies does not serve the social structure."
Young Mauritanian, Nasir al-Din Chamouchi told Magharebia, "Those who go to Syria with the belief that they are fighting for the sake of Allah in Syria or elsewhere will not consider returning to this country unless to live according to the same ideas and laws."
Due to the absence of state as far as security on the ground is concerned, some Libyan young men, and others from Tunisia and Morocco, took advantage of lack of tight protection along Libyan borders to travel to Turkey and then to Syria to take part in fighting there.
Libyan journalist Miftah Belaid, who writes for al-Jadidah newspaper, said: "The Libyan government can't prevent the departure of fighters to Syria, especially in some cities controlled by armed Islamist groups in the east. Such cities have become a source of fighters.
Seif Edine Dabbashi, a native of Tripoli, said Libya was the main gate for many fighters to go to Syria.
"They even receive training here before they're sent to Turkey and then to the battlefront in Syria," he said.
"However, the security situation in Libya is in chaos every day, and I don't think that preventing this flow [of fighters] is a priority for the current Libyan government."
Meanwhile, Moroccan authorities seem to be very aware of the problem of jihadists who go to fight in Syria.
Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid warned at a press conference last December against those who leave for Jihad in Syria. He said that their return would be a big problem.
In this light, Morocco is co-ordinating with neighbouring countries to stop al-Qaeda from recruiting young jihadists for Syria. Just this fall, Spain and Morocco jointly dismantled two such cells.
"It is true that security services are on alert... But it's time to impose heavy punishments on those who engage in jihad, especially recidivists," sociologist Assia Selhami said.
For 21-year-old Oussama Mrabti, helping the Syrian people is the state's job, and not the terrorist groups that indoctrinate youth.
Unlike other Maghreb countries, Algeria maintained its full diplomatic relations with Syria; something that allowed it to have necessary co-ordination with Syrian security agencies to partially prevent the flow of Algerian fighters to Syria.
"The theme of returning from jihad and terrorism is not new, at least not in the Maghreb," Mauritanian journalist Ahmedou Ould Achrif Mukhtar said.
What is new now are efforts by Maghreb countries to stop jihadists from leaving in the first place.
Tunisian returnees from Syria are ticking time bombs, Tunisian interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said. In a statement to Shems FM, Aroui warned against security dangers lying in wait in the event these jihadists return from the front.
Aroui added that Tunisia could offer rewards for citizens who help in the capture of dangerous terrorists.
© Magharebia.com 2014
