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Isis fighters in Syrian camps ‘could flee’ in terror threat to UK and Europe.
Tens of thousands of suspected Isis fighters and their families are held in Kurdish-run detention centres and camps in north-east Syria.
Former security and military officials have warned of the “global terror threat” posed by tens of thousands of suspected Isis fighters and loyalists in camps in northern Syria, as the country faces an uncertain future following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Some 10,000 people accused of being members of Isis are imprisoned in about 20 Kurdish-run detention centres in the north-east of the country, of whom about 2,000 are from 50 other nations whose governments have balked at repatriating them. The Kurds also operate the al-Hol and al-Roj refugee camps that house close to an estimated 50,000 people, the vast majority of them women and children and many from families of Isis loyalists.
Among the displaced foreign nationals at the camps who left their countries for the so-called caliphate and never returned home is Shamima Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship after she married a jihadist in Syria in 2015 aged 15. She is in Roj, the smaller of the two camps.
The system of detention is run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, a de facto autonomous region protected by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which has forged an alliance with the US to combat and defeat Isis.
After rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, overthrew the Assad regime in a stunning offensive, it is unclear what sort of government will lead the country, and what role the SDF will play in that new reality.
The major concern is broader instability in the country, and if the SDF were to collapse, officials say there is a risk of a power vacuum in the north-east region where the Isis detainees are held.
“That would be a disaster for the world,” said retired US Army Colonel Myles Caggins, the former spokesman of the US-led coalition fighting Isis in Iraq and Syria, known as Operation Inherent Resolve.
“Those Isis fighters would slip back into Syria, Iraq and some of them would find their way into Europe, Africa and Asia… it remains a global problem, a global threat, and all the world should have their eyes on Syria.”
For years, officials have warned the Hol and Roj camps pose a security threat as an Isis recruiting hub for children, describing it as a “breeding ground” for radicalisation. Aid and rights groups have also raised the alarm over the overcrowded and dire conditions and scale of violence.
The camps are staffed by NGOs and overall management and funding is handled by the American contractor Blumont, paid for by the US State Department. This arrangement means the US has, to some extent, direct influence over camp affairs, but there is little consensus on what to do with the detainees who face an uncertain fate.
Hol is divided into two parts, with Syrians and Iraqis in the main camp and foreign nationals held in a separate section under heavy security. It is in this foreign section where Isis supporters remain active, said Col Caggins, describing it as like a “county of the Islamic State”.
“They live under shariah law, they indoctrinate their children,” he added.
“The Syrian Democratic Forces recently did a large operation in al-Hol camp and they found not only contraband, including weapons, but they also found graves of people who had been murdered by other women.
“These places [the camps] are continuing to harbour and promote the ideology and lifestyle of the Islamic State.”
Sir Alex Younger, the former chief of MI6, said that if Syria lapses into civil war, the consequences will be felt in Europe. While it is up to Syrians to decide their future, Sir Alex argued the West should support them “towards a more positive state”.
“We also have some hard interests and the primary one of those is the existence of a very large number of Isis detainees left over from the destruction of the caliphate, currently contained by the Kurdish groups in the east,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday.
“But if they go off the job, you can expect a serious spike in the threats posed to Europe by Isis.”
The relationship between HTS and Kurdish groups is up for debate but they appear to have avoided direct clashes. An alliance, however, risks angering neighbouring Turkey, which claims the SDF and its main fighting force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have direct links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist group by Ankara.
The Kurdish rebel groups were not allied with opposition forces that toppled the Assad government, and the SDF has been fighting Turkish-backed rebels who participated in the HTS-led assault, namely the Syrian National Army (SNA). On Monday, the SNA took control of the northern Syrian town of Manbij from the SDF amid intense fighting, Reuters reported.
While Kurdish forces are caught between securing the Isis detention facilities and camps and battling advancing Turkish-backed fighters, US president-elect Donald Trump has signalled he would end US involvement in Syria.
“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend,” Trump wrote on social media. “THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”
US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that American troops in Syria – numbering about 900 -will remain in the country, adding that US forces conducted “precision air strikes” on Isis camps.
“We’re clear-eyed about the fact that Isis will try and take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its credibility, and create a safe haven,” Biden said. “We will not let that happen.”
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