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>> and what happens when they come home. >> we're going to take over. >> so europe lives in fear, not sure what happens. it's the story of an ordinary kid who joined the most brutal tearest camp in the world. >> a summer concert in belgium.

this is the heart of western europe. a magnet for tourist from all over the world. charming and grand, the picture of old world wealth and elegance. ♪ >> this is the other side of belgium, home to some of the most dangerous radicals anywhere. religious fanatics who want to replace belgium's democracy ruled under the most radical form of sleea law. they're not just preaching.

they're also recruiting for the world's most violent terror group, isis. per capita that's more than any other western european country. meet unez del fortry, a 28-year-old isis veteran. he offers a rare insight into the mind of an unrepentant isis supporter. >> every muslim in the world, even if he has a beard from onemeter to one milemeter, a pluz lm has to believe in caliphate. >> that dream led him to a war in syria and isis. he says he never killed anyone there. let me ask you something. if you had been asked while you were in syria to execute someone, would you have done it?

>> look, in this land there is a pledge of alliance. >> would have you ever done it? >> because you be to obey it. because it's ilaumic law. believe me, it's not a fun thing to execute elpeople. it's terrible. >> now he's back, one of more than a hundred belgiums who have returned from syria and iraq. here now walking the picturesque streets of belgium. >> we have to impplement thetia reea. that's a must. >> so wae hear from a lot of people who support isis that they believe this ideology will spread from europe across the whole world. do you believe that? >> it's already here. i said it before, it's already here. >> but people will want to know. will you ever participate in a terrorist attack?

>> why should i? i'm here to live. >> so that's a no? >> it's not on my agenda. >> but you-nez and those like him are what they fear the most. >> they want to attack. >> a lesson belgium has learned the hard way. a year ago isis murdered 32 people here and injured 300 others. >> two locations in bruzal, one at a crowded subway station in central belgium capital, the other brussels's main airport. >> and remember what happened four months earlier in paris. a massacre operated from isis operatives across the border in

belgium. >> the problem originates in belgium. >> belgium is one of 26 european countries with open borders. but crossing those borders, you can see how easily terrorists can also exploit that freedom. we're now driving from belgium into france. i do have my passpert with me, but i won't actually need it because essentially there's no checkpoint here. it's free and open highway. it's like driving from nebraska into kansas. in fact the only way you can even tell you've moved into another country is because the cellphone carrier changes. so this is belgium's new normal, soldiers and heavily armed police on patrol day and night. even as isis supporters are hidden in plain sight. >> and the most frightening thing, thousands of young

european people saying that isis is cool. >> that's right. they think isis is cool. and unez is one of them. he was actually raised catholic. baptized as michael, he even became an alter boy. >> we were raised like normal catholic people with their holidays. on somedays we thank god, and that's the way it is. >> as he tells it, his journey from the mainstream to margins of hel began with a troubled adolescence, smoking weed and trying harder drugs. his salvation, as he sees it, was discovering this book, "the way of the muslim," a detailed guide to living a pious life every hour of every day. he converted to islam and changed his name to unez arabic

for dug. he saw his name a step up from christianity. so you saw converting to islam as an upgrade? >> it's an upgrade, yeah. >> upgrading opened the doors to belgium's local community where a very small but local subset of ilaumic meantalists was amerging. he joined their ranges attracted by a simplicity of a world where identity was based solely on religion. >> you're not belgium? >> nope. i'm muslim. >> sow you don't feel belgium has giveb you anything? >> nope.

>> actually belgium has been giving him something, money. about $500 a month, a welfare check. >> i'm going to get my money from the government. they want to keep me here, they have to pay. >> reporter: an ak 7 bb gun is a small symbol of his defiance. in some ways he's not that different from other young belgiums. he likes to play video games and banter with his younger brother. >> can you see me doing this in real life? >> but in the next breath he can simply shrug off the gruesome public executions that isis proudly claims as its trademark, beheading journalists like jim foley and steven.

>> they're not over there to glorify isis. they're over there to make bad propaganda. >> and that would include me obviously. and when we come back the petty turned secrete treacher who inspired him. >> we're going to take over anyway. >> and later unez on trial, walks free. >> just like any other citizen of this country, so we're lucky. >> and shopping for an assault rifle on belgium's black market.

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when unez del fortry, a former catholic alter boy in belgium converted to islam, he says it brought stability to his chaotic life. >> you are searching your identity like everybody else in the world. >> his search led him to syria to join the world's most violent terrorist group, isis. and then back to europe a zealous soldier of god. >> you can go back and do your prayers and be satisfied or you can go further and prac sitous what you're learning. and that's the difference between the moderate one. >> why do you make a face when you say moderate? >> i don't believe. >> his spiritual guide was the

one who masterminded one of the most effective networks in western europe for recruiting jihadists. he is a car salesman turned street preacher with a criminal record that authorities say includes assault, drug dealing, and hate speech. >> we believe alah makes the laws. >> in 2012 he formed an organization he calledtia reea for belgium. he used belgium's freedom of speech to trash democracy and advocate strict ilaumic law. >> the muslim that says he's

eagainst, he's not a pluz lm. it's impossible. it's the same thing if i were speaking to a christian few or a jewish muslim or something like that. it's impossible. >> his vision of utopian society appeal especially to young idealists. >> that means no more criminality, no more drugs, no more raping, no more -- >> it's like they are vampires who are smelling blood. >> dmitri joinedtia reea in belgium in 2011. he was a typical teenager even competing on a tv show as a michael jackson impersonator. but moonwalking was a world away. >> first of all, he stopped it

to eat western food. second going to the mosque, he became veryligious s. he started to take distance step by step from his own family, from his own friends. so all what we built, what we created. it was gone like snow for the sun, you know. >> did you try to talk to him about it? >> absolutely. so many times we asked the question is there something we can help you with? did we do something wrong? did we fail as parents? >> he got the news by chance when he saw him standing at a belgium rally. he took a bold step and invited bell cosm to his house, to confront the man he believed had

brainwashed his son. >> i had never met someone when is so charactermatic and so intelligent. it's like the delve was sitting in my living room. >> 18-year-old norra was also taken in by him. her mother says norra was an idealest, determined to make a difference but lost. sumera like most of belgium's muslims sees the recruiters like him as a great threat. [ speaking foreign language ] >> but his version of islam struck a cord with some young

muslims. many faced discrimination in education and jobs and lived in culturally isolated worlds. >> the level of exclusion in this country and the level of animosity and discourse of people in power, muslims were at the bottom of europe. >> it led to a deep-seated resentment which he exploited. unez said it gave him a sense of purpose. he jumped to the streets and internet protesting belgium's secularism with its ban for full facial vails for women and even vails for schoolgirls. over time the message became more extreme, the tone more

hateful. [ speaking foreign language ] >> it was really becoming worrying. >> he was the top security bellium official at the it time. he foresaw terror and bloodshed and rang the alarm. but political leaders were dismissive. >> i heard as an answer that these well were not extremely dangerous. we are facing a bunch of clowns. >> when was your response to that? you're the head of intelligence services and in your opinion there's a legitimate threat here. >> there's a bit of frustration. we saw there's a bigger and bigger radicalization. >> he turned out to be right. the group was a pipeline to isis and other extremist groups in

syria civil war, leaving behind desperate heartbroken parents. among those who went demeetry's son. >> it's a nightmare. >> he would eventually return home and testify against the group. as for her, she has not seen her daughter norra since he left for syria four years ago. video posted on norra's facebook page shows a girl she no longer recognizes. [ speaking foreign language ] >> but for unez going to syria was the answer to his prayers. >> finally there's a place on

earth where we can be a muslim for the full percent. >> when we come back, life in isis.

in december 201325-year-old unez delefortrie arrived in syria. the country was 2 and a half years into a brutal civil war. syria president was massacring his opposition. >> the question is what are we in the world going to dee about it. >> while the west rung its hands over what to do and who, if anyone, to support, militant jihadists groups quickly mufbd in. unez joined the most violent of them all, islamic state of iraq and syria, isis.

>> they were clear in what they were trying to accomplish. >> isis's unbridled brutality yielded huge gains on the battlefield. the group would soon declare it had carved out a caliphate, the size of michigan according to u.s. authorities ruled under its version of sharia law. unez denies committing atrocities in syria. you didn't commit any crimes while you were there? >> no. >> it's hard to fathom how anyone can endure tactics so ruthless that even al qaeda --

>> it depends on which content in america you are executing people with needles, with electric chairs. it's also execution. >> amid the rubble and death and chaos of the civil war, there was an allure for young zealots. the jihady lifestyle looked cool at least in the online postings. they presented themselves as god's warriors, islamic bad asses. and jihadists here point one finger for one god, a sign of the ilaumic proclamation of

faith. there is no god but one god. a message set to the a cappella. >> you can snap your finger and you had two recruits. it was definitely the feeling of brotherhood. being in a community that helps you out when you're in -- they help you out. the feeling of belonging and the fact they were taking part in a greater project that you were as a muslim, you were suppressed all your life by elicit western government who didn't bite the law of allah and now we have the chance to go fight. they felt they were important. >> unez said he was stationed in

this villa and that one of his assignments was guarding prisoners. what kind of prisoners? >> like people who stole something, burglars our something like that. >> so no hands were cut off? >> not at that moment. >> were you disappointed? >> no, of course. everything takes its time. >> he's one of unez's close friends. here he is more recently in an isis propaganda video. he stands above a man accused of spying and then coolly he pulls the trigger. and according to evidence gathered by belgium intelligence, he was not the only one. one example picked up on the phone tap featured a young belgian describing the day

captured syrian soldiers were summarily executed. everyone cuts someone's throat. another belgium phoned his girlfriend about shooting a kid napped civilian who didn't pay the requisite ransom. i wish thephilic worked. i placed the camera badly and it filmed nothing. were you aware of the behavior of your other shariaen colleagues were were bragging to their friends at home about shooting people in the face and cutting people's heads off? >> they're young people. >> meaning? >> who wouldn't? if you're executing somebody or you're killing somebody on the battlefield, keep it for yourself and allah because you're doing it for him. >> but what were they doing cutting people's heads off in

the first place or shooting people in the face? >> i have to ask them. i am not responsible for what they did. >> he deflects criticism of isis brutality by pointing to way american soldiers photograph themselves, urinating on dead taliban fighters in afghanistan. >> it's also bragging. >> yeah, but we condem that. we say that's wrong. >> we condem that in front of our god. >> after two months in syria he returned home to see his wif and children, an isis soldier back on the streets of belgium. >> and i'm doing whatever i can to spread out the word of islam. that's my goal. >> nonviolenty, he says. >> not every muslim with an

ideology is a terrorist or a potential time bomb that is going to explode in a shopping mall. >> but that is exactly what has europe on edge. an indoctrineiated muslim like unez returning from syria. >> right now is the idea of these guys coming back to kill us. >> when we come back as innocent people day in europe's great cities, unez prays for the killers. >> i ask allah to protect them and give them what they ask for. e crohn's disease,... ...i was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me

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in belgium is under arrest along with other suspected members of sharia for belgium. the prosecutor charged it was a terror group with a pipeline to extremists in syria and iraq. >> i didn't kill somebody over there. i didn't shoot somebody over there.

>> awaiting trial younnes spent two months behind bars with other radicals. >> every jail has now one or two people with what they call extremist thoughts or terrorism file. >> did you have a way of communicating? >> we did cards in the evenings, football outside. it was no punishment, to be honest. >> more than 100 young men like younnes were coming home, some disillusioned about isis and its horrific violence and others deswrenzatized and trained to murder. >> if you are already past the stage of ideas into the stage of fighting for an organization, you went there, trained, acquired the skills, you have to have a very suspicious attitude. we shouldn't be naive. >> belgium had been slow to

grasp the danger. may 2014 a man walked into the jewish museum in brussels and shot four people dead. >> it was the first time that we had serious terrorists attack on belgium territory. >> police arrested and charged a 29-year-old french national. he denies being the killer. authorities believe he had fought in syria with isis. >> it was kind of a moment where belgium woke up because we saw a frenchman acting in belgium. >> it was beginning to look like there was a terrorist highway between france and belgium, but when it came to security belgium was wearing blinders. >> there was not the sense of urgency that exists now.

>> the first recognition there were systematic problems came in september of 2014. younnes was found guilty of participating in a terrorist group and given a three year suspended sentence, a punishment he flouts. >> as long as i do nothing that's against national security i can do whatever i want, just like any other citizen of this country. >> but you basically seem to be indicating your punishment was a joke. >> of course, so we are lucky. >> as for sharia for belgium's leader, the judge ruled he was a driving force, prepping young radicals for armed combat in syria. and for that 12 years in prison. it was vindication for the man

who had sounded the alarm before most people took it seriously. >> you could say that was it was a victory in a sense that when we warned a few years ago it was a radicalization organization, an organization that helped people going to syria that we were on the right track at that time. >> but the damage was already done. several jihadist networks were entrenched in belgium, ready to exploit europe's open borders. paris, november 2015 with a plot launched from brussels isis attacked. >> terror across paris. it is a city under siege. >> the death toll now stands at 118. >> the world watched as the death toll mounted. and what did younnes think about

the attacks? he saw them as payback for france's role in the bombing campaign against isis. >> it is a normal reaction. if you're attacking people, some times somebody will attack you back. if you spit in the air some times the spit will fall back in your own face. >> his sympathy is not with the victims but the attackers. >> i ask allah to protect them and give them what they ask for. that's everything that i can do. >> so in a sense you see them as heros? >> in a sense it is allah decides who is right and who is wrong. >> four months after the paris attacks, march 2016, this time it was belgium. bombs in the subway and suicide

attacks at the brussels airport. despite all the warning signs belgium was grossly unprepared. younnes says it took several days for police to question him about the belgium attacks because they couldn't find him. do you think they are keeping a close eye? >> no. not close enough, because with the attacks in brussels they were searching because they didn't know where i was. they were calling at the doors of my sisters because they didn't know where i was staying. >> do you find that shocking? >> shocking? it's a little bit funny actually. it's a little bit funny. >> when we come back. >> we were blindfolded. we arrived at this place and we are supposed to see a weapon.

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back in belgium younnes is stuck in a secular pluralistic world he despices. he is unrepentant about his time with isis in syria. do you ever regret leaving? >> i regret coming back. s >> you do? >> yes. i want to live underneath an sls sof sri. is that a crime? no. >> that profound detachment and disdain is what frightens authorities. while they can guard the streets they cannot guard the internet where any radical can open a recruitment center. to see how it works we used a consultant to set up a facebook

pages. he posed an a line of jihad posting that are popular to isis supporters. in just over a week 223 total strangers wanted to be friends. the majority from belgium and france. in their profile pictures we found a sea of flags. several invited us to chat further on telegram, an encrypted app used by isis. when we asked one are you in syria he told us no, unfortunately, but i want to go. >> the youngest of all of those clowns and the most innocent girl in those circles can be the next suicide bomber in a european street.

>> the most successful recruiters have a nack for customizing their pitch. in prisons, for example, religious radicals groomed their cell mates with a promise of redemption through jihad. >> it's like when you're drowning and you suddenly see that one you see that one single stick reaching out. you grasp it. and they feel reborn when they come out. >> reborn with a radical cause and extensive criminal networks they can call on. >> if you go out to syria and if you have a dozen of criminal friends back here in belgium, you only need to make a telephone call and say hey, bro, i'm coming back, i need something, i need a car, i need a safehouse, i need a kalashnikov, and it's like okay, bro, no problem. >> getting a weapon really is that easy.

even though belgium has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the west. after a few phone calls and secret meetings we met a small-time drug dealer. he showed us an ak-47 like the ones used in the paris attacks. he's saying there are 20 bullets in each magazine. that's a lot of killing power. black market price tag, he says, about $3,000. so who will win this battle, and how long will it take? >> i don't want to be pessimistic, but i think that actions as those in paris and in

belgium could and will probably happen again. >> reporter: younis says he has no intention of attacking europe. his focus is on the next generation. he named one of his sons osama. >> did you name him after bin laden? >> yeah. >> you did. >> yes. and i'm proud of it. >> why? >> because that man is a hero. what is the problem with that? >> well, he killed 3,000 people at a very conservative estimate. >> if we have to condemn everybody who kills people, how will -- hell will be full. >> when we come back, he loathes belgium's democracy but gladly collects his government check. >> i'm going to get my money.

♪ there will always be a line between you and me. and that line is my religion.

>> younis de la fortre wants to live under sharia law. he hates democracy. he even joined isis. but on this day the ultimate paradox. it's payday at the welfare office. >> i'm going to get my money. from the government. they want to keep me here, they have to pay. >> but they're not paying anymore. recently he got a job repairing bicycles. even so, he embodies a serious dilemma for belgium. how to distinguish free speech and religious liberty from life and death security threats. >> you're feeling affinity with your people, and we are feeling affinity with our people. >> he chooses his words carefully, voicing support for violent jihadists but denying he would use violence himself.

i might be inclined to believe him. but since we met younis he's been convicted of domestic abuse. he's obviously capable of violence. still, not every extremist becomes a terrorist. but it leaves authorities here with a major challenge. to work out which radicals really are ticking time bombs. do you think there will be more attacks? >> i think the risk is very high, yes. >> in belgium the experts give a hodgepodge of prescriptions and not always what you would expect. on the one hand, a secular muslim writer calls for harsher punishments. >> when it comes to people who link themselves to terrorists i think we have to be very hard. zero tolerance. right? >> while a former security chief says respect due process. >> it can be very frustrating, but we can't leave the surroundings of what the law allows us to do.

>> the vast majority of muslims here reject isis and see extremism as a scourge that hurts their communities. but many feel increasingly alienated by the rise of right-wing parties and growing islamophobia. >> and that's exactly what is so frightening right now, is that we are at this point exactly doing what the islamic state wants. >> what do you mean by that? >> islamic state wants to drive a wedge between muslims and non-muslims in the west. wants muslims not to feel at ease. they want them to be infuriated and to feel go out to join the islamic state and carry out attacks. >> it is a vicious cycle that will likely play out for years. >> do you see a future where europe and the west will be u

under sharia law? >> it's a reality. it will happen. it's a promise of allah. >> authorities can go after isis on the battlefield. but they cannot kill an ideology. exclusive on cnn, american intelligence agencies believe terror groups have got a lot closer to making bombs that can go undetected at airports. we'll break down what we know about the threat and what's being done to counter it. and michael flynn's lawyer says the disgraced former national security adviser has a story to tell provided he's granted immunity. the white house says go for it. plus, in paraguay protesters ransacked the congress building over efforts to change the constitution. we'll have more on that later in the show. from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, a warm welcome to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. i'm cyril vanier.