Tunisia's Jihadi Problem and How to Deal with It

The Tunisian Jihad: Between al‐Qaeda and ISIS

“…107 Furthermore, as argued by Lisa Watanabe and Fabien Merz, the dismantling and banning of all organizations that were spreading the salafist jihadi ideology among the youth may have reduced the ability of jihadists to recruit people, but it did not solve the problem of spreading ideology via the net. 108 Not much has been done to counter this ideology, especially in the area of education. Indeed, Rajjeb Iqbel explains, One of the major problems in Tunisia is that the state has neither a clear program for de-radicalization nor for the prevention of radicalism.…”

“…Among them were Jabhat Al Islah, led by Mohammed Khouja, a former member of the TICG; Al Asala (authenticity), led by Muldi Mujahid; and the Al Rahma party, led by Sayd al-Jaziri, who was and active radical salafi preacher, although not a former jihadist. 25 However, it is within the newly formed organization Ansar Al Sharia of Tunisia (AST), created in April 2011, that most of those former jihadists gathered under the leadership of Abu Iyadh Al Tounsi, co-founder of the TICG.…”

“…The monitoring of religious fraternizing, in order to prevent the spread of jihadi ideas, was established, as was the reinforcement of controls over social media, extensively used by jihadists to spread their ideas and attract recruits. 95 Several agreements were signed with France and the United States, including the delivery of weapons and training, as well as surveillance equipment. 96 In that regard, the decision by the United States to elevate Tunisia to the status of "major non-NATO ally" facilitated Tunis's acquisition of advanced defensive equipment.…”

Tunisian terrorist fighters: a grassroots perspective

“…Estimates by the Soufan Group, the United Nations or the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation all place Tunisia as the top exporter of foreign fighters (Sayah 2017;Watanabe and Merz 2017). The instability of the post-revolutionary phase implies a highly contested political opportunity structure, occasionally contracting but also expanding spaces for a renewed political expression (Fortier 2015).…”

“…However, several political, social and security challenges threaten the process (Hmed 2016). Tunisia has particularly stood out as the first sender of foreign fighters to the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, puzzling observers (Malka andBalboni 2016: Watanabe andMerz 2017).…”