Many jihadis from Europe feel they have been conned into joining the Islamic State.
A chunk of jihadis from Europe, who had gone to join the Islamic State with high hopes, suddenly appear to have developed acute homesickness. Giving reasons that range from having to clean toilets to their iPod no longer working, or that it is too cold in the camps, most are writing to their families, begging to be allowed to return.
A series of messages leaked to the French daily Le Figaro revealed a number of young French Muslim converts are having second thoughts.
"I'm fed up. My iPod no longer works here. I have got to come home," one of the foreign IS recruits was quoted as saying. Another wrote, "I've done hardly anything but hand out clothes and food".
"Winter is beginning. It's starting to get tough," wrote a third. A fourth said he was "sick" of his time with the militant group. "They make me do the washing up," he added.
The report also mentioned Mumbai boy Areeb Majeed, who reportedly told the authorities about being sidelined by the jihadis and being asked to do menial tasks. (
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Now, dozens of IS recruits, said to be working with French lawyers, have collected texts and messages from many jihadis that suggest they feel they had been conned into joining the IS. They have appealed to the authorities for clemency.
One lawyer said the longer they remain in Iraq and Syria, the more chance they have of becoming "time bombs" when they return.
Recently, a man was jailed in Britain for "conspiring to attend a terror training camp" in Syria after he returned home, whining to his girlfriend about his treatment abroad.
Another British man, Mohommod Nawaz, 30, and his younger brother Hamza Nawaz, 24, was jailed for the same reason. The brothers had brought back bullets and pictures clicked on their mobile phones to remember their time at the jihadi camp.
Mohommod's messages to his girlfriend revealed he was far from happy in Syria. "I fear we may never see each other again. I was crying lots last night," he wrote.
Many radicalised Europeans have been drawn to IS, which conducted a series of mass executions and other atrocities since launching its offensive in Iraq and Syria in June.