EXCLUSIVE: Camp authorities said ISIS could be reborn in “24 hours” if Britain and other Western powers leave the region.
There are fears Islamic State could be reborn if the West abandons the camps in northeast Syria (Image: Getty )
Tens of thousands of ISIS extremists could be unleashed on Britain and the West if the camps holding them in Syria are taken over by a new regime, authorities guarding them have warned. At least 35,000 former Islamic State followers have been detained in facilities administered by the Western-backed Syrian Defence Force (SDF) since the fall of ISIS in 2019. More than 8,000 foreign-born former jihadis are still held, including female ISIS brides such as Britain’s Shamima Begum.
The two main camps, which are made up of UN-style refugee tents packed full of potential extremists, are al-Roj, where several thousand foreign women and children are detained including Begum and other British-born brides, and al-Hol, the so-called ‘ISIS city’ where more than 32,000 Syrian, Iraqi and foreign men, women and children have been kept under lock and key by the Kurdish-led SDF for the past six years. There are also several other brick-built prisons in Syria holding more local and foreign-born male extremists.
All of the former ISIS fighters and brides are detained in a region of Syria known as The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). The de facto autonomous part of the country is run by a Kurdish ethnic majority, who fought alongside the British, US, and coalition forces to smash the nightmare of ISIS in Syria and Iraq culminating in the Battle of Baghuz in 2019. They have been supported by around 2,000 US troops stationed in DAANES, as well as with funding from the UK and other Western nations ever since.
But after the new regime of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by former al-Qaeda member Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, seized power in Syria from President Bashar al-Assad six months ago, fears have grown a government led by an ex-jihadi could seek take control of the camps holding ISIS.
Jihan Hanan, co-chair of al-Hol Camp, which holds 30,000 former ISIS followers (Image: Tim Merry/ Daily Expresss )
Mr al-Jolani, also known as Ahmed al-Sharaa, has pledged to fight against any ISIS insurgency but worryingly soldiers operating under the HTS banner have been seen wearing symbols associated with Islamic State and atrocities have broken out in HTS-controlled areas against ethnic minorities including Christians, Druze and Alawites. In June, a suicide bomber linked to ISIS killed 25 people and injured 63 in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus.
Negotiations between HTS and the SDF are ongoing as to the future of the country, with the SDF seeking assurances it can be involved in any new government formed.
Pressure is also growing on the SDF-run ISIS camps from Washington, as President Donald Trump‘s administration has cut foreign aid making it harder for Kurdish authorities to provide food, pay guards and ensure the security of both the camps and the prisons. There have also been rumblings US troops could be withdrawn.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, Jihan Hanan, co-chair of al-Hol Camp, said if HTS take over running the camps in Syria then Islamic State could be reborn. She also revealed HTS have had almost no communication with the SDF, despite them reaching out for assurances over the future of the camps.
“ISIS are still here in Syria, they can revive at any minute, right now in al-Hol camp if another side took over the camp, just give it 24 hours and ISIS will be reborn again. If the SDF stopped being in control, ISIS will return and a big war would happen” she said.
“We will face a big challenge (if HTS took over), it will be really difficult for us because the war against ISIS is not only a war fought using weapons, it’s also a war against an extremist ideology that we are facing right now. I say that in my opinion the SDF are the ones that are able to protect (the West) and the camp and fight against ISIS.”
Highlighting the recent atrocities carried out against Alawite and Druze communities in Syria since HTS came to power, Ms Hanan added: “Let’s not look at his (Jolani’s) background, let’s not look at his past, let’s look at what is happening right now under HTS. We have a lot of fear the genocides happening elsewhere in Syria are going to happen here.
Authorities in al-Hol said there was a danger ISIS would be reborn if the camps were taken over (Image: Tim Merry/ Daily Express)
“In the years SDF have been fighting ISIS, I’ve never seen a genocide happening, I have not seen the SDF breaking humanitarian standards according to the UN, I see that the SDF are able to protect these camps.
“If another regime came and took control, or took administration of this camp, it would be really hard because they don’t have the experience not only fighting ISIS, but also fighting the extremism.”
In February, just a month after President Trump took office, the Pentagon began drawing up plans for the removal of US troops from north east Syria, however the plans appear to have stalled for the time being. Admiral Charles Brad Cooper, Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) visited al-Hol this month. In a sign the threat of ISIS is still real, CENTCOM said its forces killed a senior ISIS leader and his two sons affiliated with the group in Syria’s Aleppo region in July.
Ms Hanan added: “I don’t believe the US should abandon the region because it is a humanitarian issue, I don’t understand how someone could work on this for years and just leave it behind.”
Both Britain and the US have lifted a series of sanctions against government departments in Syria and in July, then Foreign Secretary David Lammy, became the first UK minister to visit the Middle Eastern nation in 14 years. Speaking at the time, he said: “A stable Syria is in the UK’s interests, reducing the risk of irregular migration, ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons, tackling the threat of terrorism and delivering the government’s Plan for Change.
The UK is re-establishing diplomatic relations because it is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians.”
Daily Express reporter Richard Ashmore in al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Image: Tim Merry/ Daily Express )
