Global Islamism Monitor: No. 5

BRITAIN'S JIHADIS RETURN HOME
The British government is raising the alarm over a new influx of Islamist radicals. Scotland Yard estimates that fully half of the more than 700 estimated British citizens who left the UK over the past year-and-a-half to join the ranks of the Islamic State terrorist group have now returned home. The revelation follows televised threats directed at the United Kingdom by Islamic State militants, which have raised the level of alarm in London over the potential for an upsurge in terrorism there. "Islamic State and other terrorist groups are trying to direct attacks in the UK, [as well as] encouraging British citizens to travel to Syria to fight and train," Mark Rowley, England's top counterterrorism official, has told reporters. "They are seeking, through propaganda to provoke individuals in the UK to carry out violent attacks here." (LondonDaily Mail, May 15, 2015)

PUSHBACK IN TUNISIA
In the wake of a mid-March terrorist attack on the Bardo museum in the country's capital, the Tunisian government is mobilizing in earnest against Islamic extremism. Recent days have seen stepped up security operations by the Tunisian government, the introduction of a new anti-terrorism bill in the country's parliament, as well as an effort by the country's Religious Affairs Ministry to exert greater control over mosques throughout the country. The scope of the challenge, however, is daunting. According to estimates by Tunisian government officials and experts,roughly one-fifth of the country's 5,300 mosques have "slipped from the ministry's control" since the 2010 Jasmine Revolution. (Al-Monitor, May 19, 2015)

HOW THE ISLAMIC STATE IS SNEAKING INTO EUROPE
Islamic State fighters are being smuggled into Europe, a Libyan official has warned. According to Abdul Basit Haroun, an advisor to the Libyan government, Islamic militants are taking advantage of a steady stream of migrants from North Africa to infiltrate into the Eurozone. Last year, more than 200,000 migrants reached Europe via the Mediterranean, and the Islamic State has begun to piggy-back on this inflow, exploiting the fact that "European police don't know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee or not." (BBC, May 17, 2015)

THE ISLAMIC STATE'S RESILIENT TERROR ECONOMY
Despite the efforts of the United States and its allies to erode and deplete its finances, the Islamic State remains solvent. An assessment by analysts from the RAND Corporation has concluded that the group's multiple income streams - including extortion,taxation and a booming illicit oil trade - have allowed it to continue paying salaries, building institutions and advancing militarily in spite of Western policy. Moreover, the study notes, as the United States and Europe have begun to target its external sources of revenue, such as oil and the sale of antiquities, the organization has adapted to rely more heavily on income from other funding streams, such as taxation. (New York Times, May 19, 2015)

IN THE SAHARA, CRACKS IN ISLAMIST IDENTIFICATION
Algeria's newest jihadist group is suffering an identity crisis. In a recent televised statement, a spokesman for al-Mourabitoun, a militant group founded in 2013, signaled an apparent ideological about-face when he pledged the movement's allegiance to the Islamic State. Now, however, veteran Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar - a co-founder of the group - has publicly rejected the pledge, signaling a major ideological split. Instead, Belmokhtar has identified himself with al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, although al-Mourabitoun apparently has differences with al-Qaeda's North African franchise, AQIM. (Doha The Peninsula, May 18, 2015)

AUSTRALIA'S HARD LINE
Australia is implementing ano-reentry policy for Islamist radicals. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced that his government will not extend amnesty to Australian citizens returning home after fighting with militant groups in the Middle East. Instead, foreign fighters who return to Australia face prison time and related punishments. "If you go abroad to break Australian law, if you go abroad to kill innocent people in the name of misguided fundamentalism and extremism, if you go abroad to become an Islamist killer, well, we are hardly going to welcome you back into this country," says Abbott. "If you go abroad to join a terrorist group and you seek to come back to Australia, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and jailed." (Reuters, May 18, 2015)