Several Arab and Western espionage agencies have set up a joint situation room to trace thousands of Islamic State fighters who have gone missing in Syria, Iraq and Libya, an Arab intelligence official told Breitbart Jerusalem.
Some of the several hundred IS fighters who took part in the battle of Sirte, in Libya, survived the defeat, as well as fighters in the lost battles of Mosul in Iraq and Manbej, Alrai, Jarabulus and other communities near the Syrian-Turkish border, he said.
According to estimates, the number of IS fighters reached several tens of thousands in those areas, “but the battles did not yield thousands of dead or captured fighters.”
“That’s why it’s worrisome – these people are gone. They either integrated into noncombatant communities or, more likely, infiltrated into neighboring countries – to Turkey, and from there to Europe and other Middle Eastern countries, and in Libya’s case, all over North Africa.”
He said that 700 Tunisian fighters are unaccounted for, while thousands more are being sought.
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