Officials: FBI is tracking 100 Americans who fought alongside IS in Syria

Some of the estimated 100 Americans who have tried to get to Syria and join up with militant groups such as the Islamic State have returned to the United States and are under FBI scrutiny, a top official told reporters on Monday. For months, top American officials have warned that U.S. citizens trying to swell the ranks of the Islamic State and other groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pose an exceptional security risk. On Monday, a senior White House official said the 100 Americans include “those who’ve gone, those who’ve tried to go, some who’ve come back and who are under active—the FBI is looking at them.”

We have over a hundred fighters there from America. They have passports. They can come back here.

Secretary of State John Kerry

The United Nations Security Council is expected to adopt a binding resolution this week that would require nations to bar their citizens from traveling abroad to join terrorism organizations, part of a U.S.-led effort to galvanize the international community against what Obama administration officials call an “unprecedented” threat from extremists flocking to Syria and Iraq. The U.S. and many European nations already have laws on the books that allow them to prosecute their citizens who attempt to or succeed in traveling to join extremist groups. The U.N. resolution is intended to prod other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, to step up efforts to stop the flow of foreign fighters.

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