Trump and Starmer have been blasted for ‘betraying’ the Kurds (Image: Getty )
More than 30,000 prisoners could walk free from the world’s biggest ISIS camp, it has been claimed. Kurdish guards under attack from the Syrian government withdrew on Tuesday with Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump blasted for betraying them. The Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force (SDF), backed by the West, has been security for the massive al-Hol detention ISIS camp in north east Syria since they defeated the Islamic death cult alongside British and American forces in 2019.
The SDF guards a host of other ISIS facilities, including al-Roj camp where Britain’s former jihadi bride Shamima Begum is held just 90 miles away. The Damascus-based government in Syria, led by former al-Qaeda jihadi President al-Sharaa, had been in negotiations with the SDF over integrating the Kurdish controlled north east of the country into the Syrian state.
Talks collapsed on January 4 and government forces, backed by Turkey, have since launched an offensive against Kurdish towns and cities, with tanks and drones seizing territory in a lightning fast attack over the past 48 hours. Al-Sharaa’s troops have taken control of the country’s largest oil field and attacked Kurdish areas in the cities, including Raqqa, Aleppo and Kobani. Worryingly ISIS prisons previously guarded by the SDF have also been attacked and abandoned, potentially opening the door for tens of thousands of hardline islamists to walk free.
There is evidence ISIS-sympathising hardline elements within government forces are using the offensive to wreak revenge on the Kurdish, who helped the allies crush Daesh six years ago.
The Daily Express has seen footage and images showing SDF fighters bodies being desecrated by government forces. Chillingly some of the dead soldiers have been beheaded in a terrifying echo of a preferred tactic of the Islamic State.
READ MORE: Shamima Begum security fears as 1,500 Islamic State terrorists escape jail
READ MORE: Shamima Begum could be ‘freed in days’ as ISIS bride renews bid for UK return
Shamima Begum could be free in days in her camp is taken over (Image: BBC )
US and British politicians appear to have been scrambling to react to the speed of the government gains, with US envoy Tom Barrack welcoming a ceasefire on Monday which collapsed in a matter of hours. Labour’s Minister for the Middle East and Africa, Hamish Falconer, conceded that the “situation is fast moving, it is of concern, we are calling for de-escalation and we want a halt to the advance”.
Mr Barrack held meetings with his counterpart in Turkey again on Tuesday and President Donald Trump held a phone call with President al-Sharaa on Monday night, however, the fighting on the ground continues.
In a damning statement yesterday, the SDF said it had abandoned control of the world’s biggest ISIS detention camp “due to international indifference toward the issue of the ISIS terrorist organisation”. It added prison guards and soldiers had been “compelled to withdraw from Al-Hol Camp and redeploy in the vicinity of cities in northern Syria that are facing increasing risks and threats”.
In the UK, Ishak Milani, co-chair of Kurdish People’s Assembly in Britain, told the Daily Express: “Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer, the United States and Britain, have abandoned us to this new jihadist regime in Damascus.
“What is happening now in Rojava is a betrayal of the Kurdish people by the West. Our sons and daughters fought and died in the war against Isis supporting the Americans and the British.
“We have since kept the West safe by guarding the prisons holding dangerous jihadis, some of whom, like Shamima Begum, came here from the UK to join Isis.
“We have been guarding your extremists for you, we have been on the front line protecting you from the rise of radical Islam.
“Now the government in Damascus, supported by Turkey, and by the US and the UK, is attacking those prisons and freeing the Isis inmates, they are attacking Kurdish towns and cities and carrying out atrocities against civilian men, women and children.
“They are desecrating bodies of our fighters and carrying out beheadings. Does that remind you of anyone? Isis have returned.”
A militia soldier with government forces wearing an ISIS armband (Image: Al-Jazeera)
Filmmaker Andrew Drury has been in contact with sources connected to the al-Roj camp holding Begum and other British former jihadi brides. He told the Daily Express Kurdish guards from the People’s Defense Units (YPG) had put the camp into lockdown.
“The YPG ‘People’s Defense Units’ soldiers are inside the camp, security is now the tightest it’s ever been. Shamima and the other women are not allowed to mix with each other anymore. The camp is in lockdown,” he said.
“The Kurdish SDF are expecting trouble, they have the intelligence on what is happening on the ground.
“It’s so quick to advance through Syria, it’s desert roads for miles and miles, the Syrian army is in Raqqa, so they could be at the gates of Shamima’s camp in hours. The ceasefire failed within hours.
Mr Drury, who has been visiting the camp for the past seven years, said: “This is the biggest upheaval since the war against Isis, I would be very surprised if she is in that camp much longer.
“I’ve been visiting this region for a decade. The SDF fought Isis with us but they have no defence against the Syrian army at the moment, I think this will be the biggest shift since Isis.”
Footage showing ISIS prisoners escaping in Syria (Image: Supplied )
US Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump who visited Israel this week. He posted an apparent warning on X on Monday to Damascus: He wrote: “You cannot unite Syria by the use of military force as Syrian government leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa is trying to do.
“This move by Syrian government forces against SDF members is fraught with peril. I would expect Congress would want to have hearings and briefings ASAP. I believe this would be appropriate.
“Finally, it was the SDF forces that were the boots on the ground when President Trump destroyed ISIS in his first term. I believe we owe them better.”
In a latest statement, US special envoy to the region Tom Barrack appeared to signal an end to a US military presence in Syria. In a post on X he said America had “no interest in long-term military presence” adding that the US “prioritises defeating ISIS remnants”.
However, in what will be seen as a huge public blow to the Kurdish hopes of any autonomous control in Syria, Mr Barrack added the Trump administration would not be “endorsing federalism”.
Mr Barrack made no mention of the events at al-Hol camp, which has been abandoned by the SDF, but signalled US forces would now be “ensuring the security of prison facilities holding ISIS prisoners” that were still “currently guarded by the SDF”.
The office of Syrian interim President al-Sharaa said during a telephone call on Monday with Trump he “affirmed the importance of preserving the unity and independence of Syrian territory” and “the need to guarantee the rights and protection of the Kurdish people.” The statement said they also agreed to continue cooperating in the fight against IS.
The Syrian government had warned the SDF earlier not to use “cases of terrorism for political blackmail,” saying it is ready to implement international law regarding the detainees.
“The government warns the SDF’s command not to facilitate the fleeing of Daesh detainees or opening prisons as a revenge measure or for political pressure,” read a government statement carried on state media.