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The jihadist threat will not diminish - in fact, it is likely to become more diffuse and complex. Unfortunately, the end of Islamic State’s caliphate will not mean an end to the threat posed by the group or by the foreign fighters who have flocked to it and other jihadist movements. The group is already encouraging potential recruits to go directly to other Islamic State outposts, most notably in Libya, or to stay in Europe to launch attacks as part of its global campaign. These setbacks will increase the pressure on some foreign fighters to leave Iraq and Syria. Islamic State has suffered significant battlefield losses and is preparing its followers for the fall of its remaining strongholds. The US-led military campaign against Islamic State has, in recent months, made major inroads into the territory controlled by the group. While there has been a steady stream of foreign fighters leaving Iraq and Syria for some time now, these departures are likely to increase as a result of developments on the ground. In the next few years, the focus will be on those coming out. In the last five years, Western counterterrorism agencies have focused largely on radicalised individuals going to Iraq and Syria. Increasingly, the group is using foreign fighters to carry out terrorist attacks outside of the Middle East, such as those in Paris in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016. From its self-declared ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State has used a sophisticated propaganda campaign to recruit foreigners to its ranks. The war in Syria has given new life to established groups such as al-Qaeda, and has raised to prominence newer groups, most notably Islamic State. While not all these foreign fighters have ended up serving with jihadist groups, a significant proportion have. Of particular concern to the international community is the tens of thousands of foreign fighters from over 100 countries who have been drawn to the conflict. Its scope has expanded beyond a civil war, or a regional power struggle today it is a multilayered conflict with global implications. The Syrian conflict is now in its fifth year. This should include common legislative action regarding the treatment of foreign fighters, greater intelligence and border control coordination and cooperation and a greater focus on the foreign fighter issue within existing multilateral counterterrorist groupings. This will require a more coordinated international response rather than just multiple national approaches. It is critically important that international security agencies understand the networks that these individuals have formed, the routes they intend to use to leave Syria and Iraq, and their intentions once they have left the battlefield. The fighters who survive and escape will be just as ideologically motivated as those that emerged from Afghanistan and Bosnia, but will be more operationally experienced, have more lethal skills and be better networked than their predecessors. More generally, the foreign fighter fallout from the years of conflict in Syria and Iraq will echo that of previous conflicts such as Afghanistan and Bosnia. The prospective collapse of Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ is likely to increase the number of foreign fighters leaving its territory. Now and in the immediate future they will need to focus more on those coming out. In the last five years, Western counterterrorism agencies have focused largely on radicalised individuals going to Syria and Iraq.