New Zealand spy bosses have revealed Kiwi men and women remain alongside Islamic State and other extremist groups in the Middle East.
While politicians grappled over legislation aimed at protecting the country from the risks posed by people returning here after engaging in terrorism activities overseas, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) provided them with some of their latest intel, including the “threat” posed by some on their potential return.
The latter includes conducting a terror attack themselves, or “inciting” others to do so – a stance which is backed by a New Zealand-based security and intelligence expert who has previously done consultancy work for the US Government.
In a briefing to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee – which had considered the Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill – the SIS said it believed Kiwis continue to work alongside Islamic terrorist groups.
“There is a small number of New Zealanders – men and women – some of whom are dual citizens, believed to remain in Syria or Iraq alongside Isil and other extremist groups,” the SIS said in the document obtained by the Herald.
“It is possible there may be other New Zealanders that have travelled to the conflict zone that we do not know about.”
The bill – which passed its third reading in Parliament on December 12 – would provide police with the power to seek a control order from the High Court for Kiwis returning here after having been involved in terrorist activities.
Conditions covered by an order include electronic monitoring, a requirement to live at a specific address, restrict access to the internet, and enforce regular reporting to the police.
Justice Minister Andrew Little said of the legislation when it became law earlier this month it was “designed to prevent terrorism and support de-radicalisation in a way that is consistent with New Zealand’s human rights laws.”
In the earlier SIS briefing – provided to the select committee on November 14 – the SIS said it was “very difficult” to obtain accurate information about New Zealanders who had travelled to some of the terror hotspots as “situations are very fluid”.
The spy agency was working with its international partners to get all the information it could on New Zealanders “who may be involved in the conflict”.
The Bill was introduced by Little amid the likelihood some New Zealanders would soon start returning home.
That was something touched on by the SIS which stated the Turkish offensive in north-east Syria had “increased the likelihood that foreign fighters and extremist travellers will be deported back to their countries of origin or third countries”.
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Turkey was considering deporting foreigners it had detained, with the SIS saying Turkish authorities had given “no indication” they would flag the pending arrivals to respective nations.
“Should a foreign terrorist fighter arrive in New Zealand, there are a range of threats the individual/s may present to New Zealand’s domestic security,” the SIS stated.
“The threat each individual would pose to New Zealand national security should they arrive in New Zealand would be specific to their own circumstances, including their activities in the conflict zone, their intent and capability to conduct a terrorist attack in New Zealand, awareness of their arrival by authorities or any conditions placed upon them.”
As well as launching their own attack, other threats they could pose were “radicalising others”, and “inciting, encouraging or supporting others to conduct an attack”.
The information shared with the select committee came as no surprise to 36th Parallel Assessment’s Dr Paul Buchanan – a security and intelligence expert – who said previously it was believed up to two dozen New Zealanders had travelled to the Middle East since the creation of Islamic State.
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However, he said it was unclear how many were aligned to the terror group, or who had travelled to join the Free Syrian Army who initially formed in 2011 to bring down Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Government and have since waged brutal war with Islamic extremists.
Buchanan said New Zealand security officials were right to consider any returning would-be Kiwi jihadhis a security risk.
“Now that they [Islamic State] have lost the physical caliphate, they are urging [foreign fighters] to go back to their home countries and continue with low-level, lone wolf, small cell type operations like we have seen in Europe over the last few years,” he said.
“This is the next evolution of the irregular warfare game. They have reason to be concerned even if there is one of these people wanting to come back.”
–NZH
All these articles about Kiwi jihadis overlook the fact that many of the Western powers, including New Zealand, have had a finger in the Syrian pie. New Zealand’s finger was, admittedly, a small one: All we did was offer to train the White Helmets – the PR arm of Al-Qaeda/Al-Nusra. But we were involved, and in a way that helped what was, in reality, the “respectable face” of terrorism. Thus, this country is guilty of a hostile act against the people of Syria, who have done us no harm.
Any links on this?
I think you will find several articles if you search for “New Zealand and White Helmets”. The one I have saved as a pdf file is here: http://charles3.com/pdfs/NZAndWhiteHelmets.pdf.
A few points need to be made in connection with this: (1) The White Helmets are not volunteers. They are paid – and paid quite well. (2) The White Helmets are not the real Syrian Civil Defence. They are a parallel structure that operates only in terrorist-controlled areas. The real Syrian Civil Defence is based, of course, in Damascus. (3) Bolstering the White Helmets, who have been implicated in organ trafficking and other nefarious activities, does NOT help to bring peace to Syria.
The war in Syria was never a civil war. It was a proxy war waged by the West against the Syrian Government and people, and followed a longstanding plan (the Yinon plan) to Balkanize the entire Middle East. The expectation was that Syria would fall in much the same way as Libya fell. Fortunately, Russia stepped in and prevented this from happening.