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The potential that Syria veterans could return to plot and radicalize comes as Canada is already coming to grips with terrorism following this week’s arrest of two men accused in an alleged al-Qaeda-linked plot to derail a VIA Rail passenger train, and the recent deaths of three Ontario youths who had joined al-Qaeda affiliates in Mali and Somalia.

Like Canada, European countries are growing alarmed by the flow of their citizens to Syria. The Netherlands was so concerned it raised its terrorism threat level to “substantial” last month out of fears some of the roughly 100 Dutch citizens fighting in Syria might return home to commit terrorism.

William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, sent a letter to MPs this week warning that some of those trained in Syria may attempt to carry out terrorist attacks against Western interests in the region or within Western nations.

“Syria emerged as the destination of choice for foreign fighters in 2012,” the police organization EUROPOL said this week in a report that noted a “distinct rise” in the number of European Union citizens taking up arms, some with “groups associated with religiously inspired terrorism.”

The report cautioned that returning fighters could incite others to join the Syrian conflict. “In addition, these individuals have the potential to utilize their training, combat experience, knowledge and contacts for terrorist activities inside the EU.”

The Syrian Canadian Council, however, said the number of Canadian fighters was no more than 10. It said there was no organized recruitment campaign in Canada. “But people doing it on their own, I think the number is very minimal and I think there is an over dramatization of the amount of foreign fighters that are in Syria,” spokesman Faisal Alazem said.