Islamic leaders have urged British Muslims not to go to Syria or Iraq amid fears people are travelling there to take part in fighting.
More than 100 imams have signed an open letter urging them to offer help "from the UK in a safe and responsible way".
Security services estimate 500 Britons have gone to Syria to fight.
It comes as one Briton, who claims to be among them, told the BBC he would not return until the flag of Islam was "flying over Buckingham Palace".
The man, who spoke in a West Yorkshire accent and called himself Abu Osama, told Radio 5live the 7/7 London bombers were "heroic lions" and described Britain as "pure evil".
He said he had been fighting in Syria for 12 months alongside the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-linked organisation banned in the UK, although his claims cannot be officially verified.
"If and when I come back to Britain it will be when this Khilafah, the Islamic state, comes to conquer Britain, and I come to raise the black flag of Islam over Downing Street, over Buckingham Palace, over Tower Bridge and over Big Ben," he added.
He told the BBC he had been taking part in military training, making bombs and shooting enemies.
'Strong message'In the open letter released to coincide with the holy month of Ramadan, the imams said: "As the crisis in Syria and Iraq deepens, we the under-signed have come together as a unified voice to urge the British Muslim communities not to fall prey to any form of sectarian divisions or social discord.
"Ramadan, the month of mercy, teaches us the value of unity and perseverance and we urge the British Muslim communities to continue the generous and tireless efforts to support all of those affected by the crisis in Syria and unfolding events in Iraq, but to do so from the UK in a safe and responsible way."
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Qari Mohammed Asim, an imam in Leeds, said the group had come together in a bid to send a "very strong message" to British Muslims thinking of travelling to Syria or Iraq.
"I think a lot of work needs to be done and it is not only the responsibility of the Muslim community or the imams.
"It is law enforcement, (and) intelligence services who all need to work together to make sure young British Muslims are not preyed upon by those who want to use them for their own political gains."
Meanwhile, BBC Newsnight has learned that the UK drew up plans to train and equip a 100,000-strong Syrian rebel army to defeat President Bashar al-Assad, but the initiative devised two years ago was considered too risky.
'Impressionable'Concerns have been raised about home-grown involvement in terrorism, after Britons appeared in a propaganda video for insurgent group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).
In the video Reyaad Khan, who went to Cantonian High School and St David's Catholic College in Cardiff, is seen holding a gun and sitting next to his friend Nasser Muthana.
Nasser Muthana - who has been offered places to study medicine by four universities - appears in the footage, using the name Abu Muthanna al-Yemen and urging others to fight in Syria and Iraq. A third Briton in the video is from Aberdeen, where he has been named locally as Raqib.
In April, the Metropolitan Police issued a plea for people to come forward with information about their family members if they were concerned about them joining terrorist training camps in Syria.
Sir Peter Fahy, who heads the Association of Chief Police Officers' (Acpo) "prevent" strategy on counter-terrorism, told Radio 5live that young Muslims - including girls - were being brainwashed at an "impressionable" age.
"We have got information about some young girls trying to get to Syria - indeed some we believe might have got out there - on the idea of being a jihad bride," he said.
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