© Francois Lenoir / Reuters
Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon estimates between 3,000 and 5,000 surviving Europeans among Islamic State's dwindling ranks, but admits that
the continent's intelligence agencies can only watch and wait to see how many of them return.
"Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] is under pressure in Mosul and Raqqa. Belgian fighters are helping defend the strongholds, but we must be aware that there are not only 200 of our countrymen there, but between 3,000 and 5,000 Europeans," Jambon told state broadcaster RTBF on Sunday.
"All the intelligence agencies are trying to monitor the situation and exchange information. If the wave comes, we must be ready."
With its previously under-powered security services, location in the heart of the EU, and a large contingent of Muslim immigrants concentrated in neighborhoods like Molenbeek in Brussels, Belgium is considered a hotbed of European Islamism.
"117 Islamic State recruits have returned to Belgium.
About half are in prison, the others under surveillance. There are also several dozen who made failed attempts to get to Syria, and we are observing them," said the center-right Flemish politician.
Comment: Those employees of the security services who are genuinely concerned about the threat these jihadis pose have another problem: those employees of the security services who seek to stoke the strategy of tension by either allowing, facilitating, or manufacturing terrorism using these ISIS assets. If what Jambon says is true, there are between 50 and 60 ISIS fighters already back in Belgium, just waiting for the order.