Of late, many Norwegian citizens or holders of residence permits in Norway have communicated with both family members and people in Norway's Islamic community, sharing their opinion of Daesh's bleak future.
"In particular, Saudi, Tunisian and Libyan fighters have already escaped. Several of them went into it for the money, not so much for ideological reasons. Now they are fleeing, as the risk is too high," a source told Dagbladet.
"Many of the European converts are so brainwashed that they are willing to be left to die. Also, many of them got married and had children in Syria. However, many of the Norwegian ‘Daesh warriors' are disillusioned with the situation in Syria now," another source told Dagbladet.
Senior adviser Martin Bernsen of the Norwegian Police Security Service refused to give out exact numbers for security reasons.
"The situation is rather complex. Some of those who have Norwegian ties probably do not plan on ever coming back. Others have enough desire to get away from Syria," Bernsen told Dagbladet.
According to the head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, Kjell Grandhagen, some of the 150 Norwegians in Daesh have been promoted to middle-management functions, citing the notorious example of Bastian Vasquez, a Norwegian of Chilean origin who was reportedly killed last year.
Last week, Islamist Ubaydullah Hussain became the first person in Norway to be officially charged with recruiting terrorists. The 31-year-old is believed to have advised would-be terrorists, purchased equipment on their behalf and distributed contact information for members of Daesh.
"We can see that ethnic Norwegian converts are over-represented and when we look at the profile of these people, we see the same vulnerability factors. Poor labor market attachment, poor school achievement and a low rate of high school completion, substance abuse and criminality have obviously made these people vulnerable to radicalization," PST chief Benedicte Bjørnland said.