The Western Balkans region has become a recruiting ground for the Islamic State, Serbian Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told a conference on terrorism in Russia yesterday, TV N1 reported.

 A press release from the Serbian Internal Affairs Ministry said that Stefanovic told the conference that most of the combatants the Islamic State recruited were from Bosnia and Kosovo with about 800 of them going to Syria and Iraq.

Their sons went to fight for ISIS in Syria or Iraq, and some even had children in the conflict zone, then they were killed, leaving their impoverished relatives in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia to suffer.

Selim Demolli gripped the table with his hands, and his lip trembled with anger as he spoke.

The previous day he had talked to an imam about his son, who was killed three years ago in Syria. He asked the imam for a religious explanation about what happens to a dead person whose parents have not forgiven him. The answer was hard to take.

Kosovo’s Finance Minister, Bedri Hamza, signed today on behalf of the government of Kosovo a Memorandum of Understanding together with the U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Greg Delawie, with which Kosovo will support financially the global coalition against ISIS.

The government of Kosovo in its routine meeting today decided to allocate USD 100,000 in support of the coalition against the so-called Islamic state group, ISIS.

New report by the Kosovar Center for Security Studies warns that Islamic State will remain a challenge for Kosovo until its institutions mount a comprehensive, multifaceted campaign to combat its message and 'narrative'.

A new report, “The Islamic State Narrative in Kosovo Deconstructed One Story at a Time”, by the Kosovar Center for Security Studies, KCSS, says Kosovo has much to do if it is to counter Islamic State's appeal to Kosovo citizens.

Jovo Martinovic BIRN Podgorica

Some jihadis from the Balkans who travelled to the Syrian conflict zone to support Islamic State told BIRN that they returned home because they became disenchanted with the brutality, poverty and oppression.

Hilmi, an ethnic Bosniak, travelled to Syria hoping that life in Islamic State’s‘caliphate would be an ideal religious environment - but he managed to escape 16 months later, disillusioned with what he had found there.

The most distinguished fighter from Kosovo in the Islamic state was Lundrim Muhaxheri. However, after his death, Russian media are writing about a Kosovo women assessing her to be just as dangerous as her compatriot. Russian agency Sputnik reported about her citing allegedly a report of the Kosovo Center for Security Studies. However, director of this organization, Florian Qehaja, refuted Russian media, saying that Russia is leading a wild campaign against Kosovo.

The University of Pristina had to change the location of today’s ceremony to mark the 47th anniversary of its establishment due to threats it received on behalf of the terror group ISIS. Police forces were seen at the ceremony monitoring the situation. According to reports, University of Pristina received a letter saying it would be attacked on 15 February. Police investigation is ongoing. At the same time, Telegrafi quotes sources from the Kosovo Police saying the letter sent to the UP does not constitute a credible threat.

Kosovar Interior Minister Skender Hyseni says there have been no recorded cases in the past year of citizens joining the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq.

"It is now a year that we did not record any case of the departure of the citizens of Kosovo in foreign wars," Hyseni said on August 24, adding that authorities should still not be "comfortable."

Pristina has come under pressure for a perceived failure to crack down on Middle East-funded Islamic charities and radical religious figures blamed on young Kosovars joining extremist groups.

Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Skender Hyseni, during a visit to the municipality of Gjilan/Gnjilane today, said that within the last year, Kosovo was praised for fighting terrorism and preventing extremism.  “It has been eleven months now since someone from Kosovo went to Syria. The decline of this phenomenon should not make us comfortable in this direction and we have to be careful in this regard. Extremism and radicalism are treacherous diseases. Islam is peaceful and does not produce violence.