SINGAPORE: Foreign fighters returning home from the ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq pose an international security threat that will last for decades to come, Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said on Thursday, at the opening of an international symposium on rehabilitating terror detainees.
Even after they leave the fighting in the Middle East, the radicalised fighters - who number over 20,000 according to a UN report - can continue to carry out attacks in their home countries, or further the violent agenda of militant group Islamic State by forming their own terrorist groups and radicalising their countrymen, said Teo, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs.