The latent danger posed by thousands of captured Islamic State (IS) fighters in north-east Syria is growing, with riots and attempted breakouts becoming commonplace in overcrowded prison camps. IS has vowed to liberate them, and a people-smuggling network using bribery is reportedly being set up to secure covert releases.
The issue has been highlighted by the Court of Appeal ruling that Shamima Begum, stripped of her UK nationality, has the right to return to the UK to face justice, as well as the recent death of a British IS fighter in Kurdish custody. When IS lost its caliphate in March 2019, thousands of surviving members were interned indefinitely in camps run by Syrian Kurds.
Critics say this is unfinished business that risks developing into a renewed security problem. Research from Kings College London warns that escaping IS fighters are regrouping elsewhere, and there is a risk IS could regroup. Tobias Elwood MP, chairman of the Defence Committee, said: 'If we are committed to defeating IS, that doesn't mean just packing up after the air campaign is over.'
Around 40,000 jihadists joined IS between 2014-19, with 10,000-20,000 estimated to have survived. Most are languishing in camps, including women and children. The UN estimates around 8,000 children of foreign fighters are held in Kurdish-run camps, over 700 from Europe, including the UK, which has been reluctant to take them back.
Anne Speckhard of the International Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism has visited camps like Al-Hol, where conditions are appalling and escape attempts occur almost weekly. She said: 'There are IS enforcers in the camps... women that kill other women.' Many women have renounced IS but live in fear of retribution from fanatical female enforcers, who have reconstituted the Hisbah morality police behind barbed wire.
Russia has taken back its nationals who are dependants of IS fighters, with President Putin stating that children are not responsible for their parents' actions. The issue of abandoned jihadists and their families remains a ticking timebomb for the West.
