Albania gained much international attention in recent years as an exporter of foreign fighters (FFs) and
other supporters of various terrorist organizations involved in fighting throughout the war in Syria. When mapping the places of origin of violent extremists and FFs there is no even distribution throughout the country; instead they are concentrated in certain small communities. The most prominent case was that of the Yzberisht mosque, located in a neighbourhood of Tirana, where over 70 individuals became radicalized and left the country to support various militant groups in Syria. Therefore, this research focuses on the community as the primary unit of analysis and its main purpose is first to help reveal what factors and actors make communities resilient or vulnerable towards violent extremism (VE) and how they interact to produce certain effects and second to identify potential actions for the future prevention of VE.