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Rabat – A new report by Tetouan-based North Observatory of Human Rights revealed that the number of Moroccan Jihadists who responded to calls to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS has decreased in 2015.
On Friday, Morocco’s North Observatory of Human Rights released its latest report about the “socio-demographic characteristics” of Jihadists from northern Morocco who joined ISIS in 2015. The report shows that Moroccans have become less inclined to join the Islamic State than before.
The report recorded a decrease in the Moroccan Jihadists who joined the terrorist organization ISIS in 2015 compared to the past two years. It revealed that only 16 Jihadists (10 males, 6 females) from Northern Morocco had joined the ISIS’ military ranks during the first six months of 2015, a rate of 3 Jihadists per month.
The observatory said that this is a significant drop compared to the monthly rate of Moroccan Jihadists who traveled to Syria and Iraq since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, which was estimated at 30 per month.
The Observatory attributed this decrease to the fact that Moroccan youth have become more convinced that the massacres and crimes against humanity committed by the terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria do not represent Islam.
It also noted that Morocco’s proactive approach to security based on monitoring and dismantling of terrorist cells that recruit Jihadists from North Morocco, played a significant role in decreasing the number.
“Although the number of Jihadists from Morocco joining ISIS has decreased in 2015, it is noted that there are individuals in Morocco who adopt the extremist ideology of the Islamic states,” said Mohamed Benaissa, Director of the North Observatory for Human Rights.
Benaissa goes on to add that those individuals may become all of a sudden “individual wolves,” referring to the possibility that those extremists might carry out terrorist attacks in Morocco, rather than join ISIS’ ranks in Iraq and Syria.
The report said that ISIS is targeting Moroccan youth in order to recruit them, adding that the it broadcasts videos on the Internet that encourage Moroccan youth to join the group in without asking for their parent’s permission.
The statistics shows that 62% of the Jihadists who flew from Morocco to join ISIS in 2015 were aged between 18 and 25, while 13% were below 18 years old.
The observatory revealed that the Islamic state targets Jihadist recruits with more education so that it can benefit from their experience.
The report also shows that 37% of the Jihadists who joined ISIS in 2015 are university graduates (3 of them with masters degrees), 25% of them are high school graduates, while only 13% of them are illiterate.
Moroccans jihadists who join ISIS are not only seeking the “glory” of fighting along other jihadists and carrying guns and blowing things up, but also to improve their financial situation. Media reports suggest that the most brutal terrorist regime the world has ever seen could have up to $2 billion from a combination of oil revenues, private donations, tax, and ransom payments.
The report also said that 57% of the jihadists who traveled to Iraq and Syria during the past six months are from poor backgrounds.
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