Shamima Begum and 65 other Islamic State-linked Britons face uncertain futures as Turkish-backed rebels attack Kurdish groups who guard prisons and camps
Shamima Begum and 65 other Islamic State-linked Britons face uncertain futures as Turkish-backed rebels are attacking the Kurdish groups who guard prisons and camps in north-east Syria.
Shamima Begum and 65 other Islamic State-linked Britons face uncertain futures as Turkish-backed rebels are attacking the Kurdish groups who guard prisons and camps in north-east Syria.
Begum had her British citizenship revoked after moving to Syria to join ISIS in 2015 at the age of 15.
Now there is uncertainty on what could happen to Begum and the other Britons with IS links detained in prisons and camps in Syrias north-east if Kurdish forces guardian them abandon the area due to attacks by Turkish-backed rebel groups, the Guardian reports.
Turkey is worried Kurdish separatists could take advantage of Bashar al-Assads ouster to extend their influence in Syria, where they have dominated a large northeastern area since 2012.
Ankara sees the Kurdish forces, notably the militant group YPG, as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s.
Since Assad fled, Turkish-backed groups have therefore launched offensives in northern Syria.
The Kurdish-led force in the northeast of the country said Wednesday it had reached a US-brokered ceasefire with the Turkish-backed fighters in Manbij, an Arab-majority city that has seen fierce clashes.
Western intelligence sources have highlighted the importance of keeping the area under Kurdish control, where about 50,000 former IS fighters, women and children are detained in prisons and camps.
These include Begum and 20 women, 10 men and 35 children who are British citizens or have held British citizenship, according to a human rights group.
Shamima Begum (pictured) and 65 other Islamic State-linked Britons reportedly face uncertain futures as Turkish-backed rebels are attacking the Kurdish groups who guard prisons and camps in north-east Syria
Destroyed trucks - reportedly driven by Kurdish groups - after a Turkish airstrike near Qamishli, northeast of Syria on December 11, 2024
Begum lost an appeal last year against the decision to revoke her citizenship on national security grounds at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
In August, justices at the UKs highest court said Begum could not appeal again after she lost a Court of Appeal bid in February.
Begum is believed to be living at the Al Roj, a filthy, brutal temporary tent city teeming with dangerous ISIS loyalists who use threats and beatings to enforce their extremist ideology.
Al Roj, where Ms Begum was moved after being found in nearby Al Hol, is home to around 2,600 detainees from 55 countries, many of them ISIS brides and their children.
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden told broadcasters on Monday there are no plans for the Government to consider whether Begum would be allowed to return to the UK after being stripped of her citizenship.
Home office minister Dame Angela Eagle told Times Radio this week that any potential return of British jihadists to the UK is a matter of great concern.
She added that intelligence services are keeping a very, very close eye on the situation on the ground, and the UK is in touch with allies.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday about concerns that jihadists from the UK being held in prisons in northern Syria could be freed if jails and camps are shut down following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Undated file photo of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum, who had her British citizenship revoked
Al Roj is a filthy, brutal temporary tent city teeming with dangerous ISIS loyalists who use threats and beatings to enforce their extremist ideology
Asked about the prospect of jihadists who are British citizens returning to the UK, Dame Angela told the radio station: Rest assured that the intelligence services are keeping a very close eye on whats going on and were in contact with all of our allies to see how this pans out.
She added: Clearly any potential return of jihadists is a matter of great concern, which is why well be keeping a very, very close eye on how this situation develops in the coming days and weeks.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Dame Angela - who serves as the minister of state for border security and asylum - said that it is a concern that we constantly act on.
Asked about whether the prospect of British jihadis returning to the UK was worrying, she said: Obviously our security services will have an eye on any such things and we communicate and co-operate with our neighbours.
Our intelligence services know whats going on with respect to all of that, so well keep a very close eye on how that works out.
Pushed further on the sense of concern, she added: Of course its a concern and its a concern that we constantly act on.
Number 10 has said that the Government is focused on the risk posed in relation to terrorism given the unfolding events in Syria.
Asked about how concerned officials are about the security risk as a result of what is happening in the country, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Obviously national security is clearly of absolute priority to the Government, and is obviously key to the meetings were having, conversations were having with regional allies.
Syrians flash the victory sign and wave three-starred opposition flags as they celebrate the fall of the President Bashar al-Assad regime, at Umayyad Square, in Damascus, Syria, December 11, 2024
Syrians wait for transportation after arriving from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, north of Idlib, Syria, December 11, 2024
Daesh continue to represent one of the most significant global terrorist threats, including to the UK.
He added: It is an unfolding, fluid, fast moving situation. One of the things we are focused on is the risk posed in relation to terrorism.
Meanwhile the UK suspended all asylum claims from Syria in response to the weekends events.
Millions of Syrians fled the country after the outbreak of civil war and thousands were granted asylum in the UK, but the Home Office said decisions on applications would now be paused while the department reviews the situation.
Some 5,548 Syrians applied for asylum in the UK in the year to September 2024 - the highest number for any 12-month period since records began in 2001.
Charity Asylum Aid said it was extremely concerned by the decision and described the move as premature because it could leave thousands of people in limbo.
The UNs refugee agency, the UNHCR, called for Syrians fleeing the country to be given protection and support.
This comes as Germanys foreign minister urged Israel and Turkey not to jeopardise a peaceful transition in Syria after the ousting of Assad.
We must not allow the internal Syrian dialogue process to be torpedoed from the outside, Annalena Baerbock told a Berlin press conference.
Neighbours such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, which are asserting their security interests, must not jeopardise the process.
Since Assads downfall, Israel has launched strikes on military sites in Syria ranging from weapons depots to naval vessels, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
Israel has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
