Foreign jihadists from more than 80 countries have flocked to fight in Iraq and Syria on an "unprecedented scale,” according to extracts of a UN report published by Britain's Guardian newspaper on Friday, which raises questions about the effectiveness of the US anti-terrorism campaign since 2001.
Around 15,000 people have travelled to fight alongside Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other hardcore militant groups from "countries that have not previously faced challenges relating to al-Qaeda," said the report.
The number of foreign jihadists travelling to fight since 2010 exceeds the cumulative total of the 20 preceding years "many times,” the Security Council study said.
"There are instances of foreign terrorist fighters from France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland operating together," it said, according to the Guardian.