C.I.A. Estimates 20 thousand to 30 thousand Foreign Fighters Flooded Into Syria

[Chef Ramsay]

No precise numbers are available “but the trend lines are clear and concerning,” Nicholas Rasmussen, NCTC director, said in prepared remarks for a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

“The rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is unprecedented. It exceeds the rate of travelers who went to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years,” he said.

The volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and “do not fit any one stereotype,” Rasmussen said.

“The battlefields in Iraq and Syria provide foreign fighters with combat experience, weapons and explosives training, and access to terrorist networks that may be planning attacks which target the West,” he said.

More...http://hotair.com/archives/2015/02/11/shock-report-20000-foreign-fighters-flooding-into-syria/

sounds like a staging area

[pattu1]

Unfortunately, it is the brutality of ISIS which seems to have attracted these foreign fighters.

[Lethn]

Meanwhile there are plenty of Kurds wanting to join the fight against ISIS and even some westerners are trying to join but Turkey won't let them cross the border and go out of their way to surpress their support, I'm beginning to believe the rumours that there are ISIS held up in Turkey frankly because despite them having tanks and everything Turkey has barely made any moves against ISIS despite them being on their borders.

[RodeoX]

The other scary part is that foreign fighters make up only a small percentage of Dasch. This is not a terrorist org anymore, it's a movement. Perhaps with another 25 years of fighting we can make some inroads. But killing a movement of ideas is far harder than killing members of small, fringe terror group. 

[pattu1]

Unfortunately, it is the brutality of ISIS which seems to have attracted these foreign fighters.

That and money. ISIS are savages, so they will always attract sociopaths. There aren't many places or societies in the world, that will not only allow you to kill a bound hostage, but also praise you for it and even pay you.

These middle-eastern groups seem to have an endless supply of oil money.

[criptix]

Unfortunately, it is the brutality of ISIS which seems to have attracted these foreign fighters.

That and money. ISIS are savages, so they will always attract sociopaths. There aren't many places or societies in the world, that will not only allow you to kill a bound hostage, but also praise you for it and even pay you.

These middle-eastern groups seem to have an endless supply of oil money.

because they have their own oil fields in iraq and syria - they sell the usually unrefined oil to assad, turkey and some states of the EU.
And well, from there it probaly can go pretty much everywhere...

tbh the chances are high that assad is more or less actively supporting isis as leverage against the west.
and turkey with there pretty much neutral stance doesnt help much either as one of the biggest players in that area.

also this is only a part of their finance; they get money from human trafficking, exortion, kidnapping, donation.
in big areas they are already acting as government, providing people with water/electricity, taking taxes; actual numbers say they control an area with more then 2 million inhabitants.
the situation is super bad and i dont see a solution without the use of ground force.