EU anti-terror chief warns about escalating threat of Syria foreign fighters

A 21-year-old from Denmark poses for a photo as if he was shooting with an AK47 rifle in May 2013 at a training camp inside Syria near Idlib and Aleppo. The Dane, who did not want to be named, spent a bit more than a month in Syria and was turned back the third time he tried to travel there. He is part of a new wave of Europeans is heading to Syria, their ranks soaring in the past six months as tales of easy living and glorious martyrdom draw them to the rebellion against Bashar Assad. The western Europe-based rebels, mostly young men, are being recruited by new networks that arrange travel and comfortable lodging in the heart of rebel territory, and foster a militant form of Islam that Western security officials fear will add to the terror threat when the fighters return home. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

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A 21-year-old from Denmark poses for a photo as he sits on top of a Soviet-made anti-aircraft gun in May 2013 at a training camp inside Syria near Idlib and Aleppo. The Dane, who did not want to be named, spent a bit more than a month in Syria and was turned back the third time he tried to travel there. He is part of a new wave of Europeans is heading to Syria, their ranks soaring in the past six months as tales of easy living and glorious martyrdom draw them to the rebellion against Bashar Assad. The western Europe-based rebels, mostly young men, are being recruited by new networks that arrange travel and comfortable lodging in the heart of rebel territory, and foster a militant form of Islam that Western security officials fear will add to the terror threat when the fighters return home. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Rand Beers, left is welcomed by Belgium's Interior Minister Joelle Milquet at the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Wednesday Dec. 4, 2013. Milquet organized a meeting with the interior ministers from the Netherlands, France, Germany, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Australia, Canada and the U.S. to discuss the problem of foreign fighters in Syria and the impact on homeland security. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) (The Associated Press)

BRUSSELS – The European Union's anti-terror chief will tell EU interior ministers on Thursday about the "major security threat" that the increase of foreign fighters in Syria poses.

A note for the meeting from the office of EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove stresses that numbers of fighters traveling back and forth from Syria is increasing.

The note, obtained by The Associated Press, specifically calls for better use of airline passenger information available to security officials to keep track of when and how rebels move to Syria.

Such legislation remains stuck in the European Parliament, and could remain there for months to come, considering the furor over the revelations from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden about wholesale data-mining of EU citizens.

The note does not name the number of fighters traveling from the 28-member EU to Syria.

But the 11 western European countries with the biggest contingents in Syria are estimated to have some 1,200-1,700 people among rebel forces, according to government and analyst figures compiled by The Associated Press for a story published Tuesday. That compares to estimates of 600-800 from those countries in late spring.

EU interior ministers will also be looking at ways to cooperate more closely with Syria's neighbor Turkey, through which most of the fighters move to get to the Syrian rebel camps.

"The EU should offer to assist Turkey in improving controls at borders and airports and should do more to help in preventing radicalization of individuals, especially in refugee camps," the note said.

A senior EU official, who demanded anonymity because of a sensitivity of the issue, said that beyond the fighters from the 28-nation EU, there were also some 500 from Balkan nations, highlighting the contribution from small nations like Bosnia and Kosovo.

"Kosovo has 80 to 100 for 2 million people," he said.

The official said the total number of EU fighters could be well above 1,000, bringing it roughly in line with the AP assessment.

The EU-based rebels are drawn by recruiters arranging travel and comfortable lodging. They instill militant Islam that EU security officials see as a potent threat once the fighters return home.

"There are cases where individuals continue traveling back and forth," the note for the ministers said. Rebels are often seen as heroes to a small section of youths upon return, making them ideal to further foster recruitment.

Ahead of the EU ministerial, Belgium organized a conference of nations directly concerned by the phenomenon, and attendees included U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Rand Beers. Interior ministers from 10 nations, including Germany, France, Britain, Australia and Canada attended the meeting.

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