The Escape: How ISIS Members Fled The Caliphate, Perhaps To Fight Another Day

One of the largest stories of the last few years has been the exodus of Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn homeland. While the overwhelming majority of these are innocent civilians simply trying to find safety and some kind of economic stability, security agencies have long warned that some of them may be former fighters from the country's myriad extremist groups.

The most concerning of these are former ISIS fighters, especially foreign fighters who are more easily able to operate in areas like Europe or Central Asia. Much has been written about the number of these fighters who were killed over the course of the Coalition war against the so-called 'Caliphate'; however, much less has been written about how many escaped, and how.

Mike Giglio and Munzer al-Awad's lengthy report for BuzzFeed News shines a light on this very question. It explores the many different options that ISIS fighters had for fleeing, even as the noose tightened around the areas they controlled. Moreover, it exposes the vast industry that opened up for smuggling rich ISIS members out of the country, and the truly exorbitant bribes they were willing to pay to escape.

While interesting as a stand-alone piece of journalism, the article also brings into question the future of ISIS itself as an organisation. Currently, it is unclear if those who are 'fleeing' are truly disenchanted with the terrorist group and its military defeat in Syria and Iraq, or if they are simply attempting to scatter towards other battlefields in Libya, Afghanistan and South East Asia where the group still fights on. Finally, it also raises the concerning possibility that many such fighters are simply lying low in Turkey, waiting for the opportune time to return to the region and once again attempt to re-start their jihad.