Four star US General Philip M. Breedlove is Commanding General, US European Command,  which means that he is also the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a position originally held by Eisenhower.  In this role he is the overall commander for NATO forces’ Allied Command operations, overseeing the alliance’s common defense.  He is the most important military officer in Europe.  His warnings about the dangers posed by the flow of refugees from the Syrian war are thus well-informed by the best of Western intelligence.

He warns of two major dangers, as well as several minor ones.  The first danger that concerns him is the spread of the Islamic State, using the refugees as a vector to move fighters into Europe itself.  The Islamic State is “spreading like a cancer,” he says, “taking advantage of paths of least resistance, threatening European nations” and the United States.  His estimate is that more than a thousand such fighters have infiltrated Europe, with more arriving “daily.”

The second major danger is that posed by Russian military tactics, which have “wildly exacerbated the problem” of refugee flow.  Russia has doubled down on the tactics used by Syrian President Bashar Assad of attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.  They are intentionally driving millions out of their homes and out of the country in an attempt to make Syria a wasteland that will be easier for Assad’s limited forces to rule.  In addition, however, Russia benefits from the pressure put on European states by the mass refugee flow.

Russia and Assad are using migration as a weapon designed to force Europe to submit to Russia’s will.  General Breedlove stated that the use of barrel bombs by Assad, and the Russian airstrikes that have supplemented them, are driving most of the migration. The purpose of such indiscriminate attacks is to force Syrians out of their home and “get them on the road” to Turkey and Europe, both hoping to force Assad to step down.  The internal chaos caused by the mass Islamic migration into Europe is greatly damaging the social order in the West, straining social services and inflaming fears that Western cultures will be overrun.  Russia’s hope is that it will force Europe to submit to Russia’s authority in return for, eventually, stemming the flow.

Refugee flows are 11 times higher so far this year than last year, with more than a million expected before the end of summer alone.  The escalating numbers eliminates the already scarce chance of vetting the migrants before they settle in the West.  “This criminality, the terrorists, and the returning foreign fighters are clearly a daily part of the refugee flow in Europe,” Breedlove said.