MI6 chief: Isil defeat won’t stop its threat
Warning over returning British jihadists as Trump prepares to declare end of caliphate
Robert Mendick,
Dominic Nicholls
Josie Ensor
THE head of MI6 has warned that Isil will “morph and spread” and its threat is “definitely not done” as Donald Trump and other world leaders prepare to announce the end of the terror group’s “caliphate”.
Alex Younger, the chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, warned that fighters trying to return home from Syria had acquired “both skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous”.
In a rare public intervention, Mr Younger also said that British citizens had a right to re-enter the UK, after the Home Secretary vowed to block the return of Shamima Begum, the former schoolgirl who joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in 2015, aged 15.
Ms Begum, now aged 19 and nine months pregnant, has begged British authorities to rescue her from a refugee camp in northern Syria. She is one of thousands fleeing Syria as Isil collapses. She last night told The Times that she was desperate not to be separated from her baby if she is able to return, saying: “What do you think will happen to my child? Because I don’t want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.”
The 19-year-old said she still “very much” loves her Dutch jihadist husband Yago Riedijk, who she hasn’t seen for two weeks. According to The Times, Riedijk, 26, is a convert to Islam who grew up in a middle-class family home in Arnhem and is suspected by police of being involved in a terrorist plot in the Netherlands.
Last night Mr Trump said that he planned to announce the demise of the caliphate this weekend. He said: “We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate and that will be announced over the next 24 hours.”
But Mr Younger sounded caution against becoming triumphant at disrupting Isil’s territory as he warned that the ideology underpinning the terrorists was still alive. Speaking at the Munich security conference, he said: “You can’t use military force to kill an idea, but you can use it to denigrate and disrupt the extent of the problem.”
The row over how to deal with returning jihadists prompted Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing, to issue a statement last night, declaring that “anyone who returns from Syria or other conflict zones, having gone in support of any proscribed terrorist group can expect to be investigated by the police”.
Just 40 out of 400 Britons returning from Syria have been prosecuted, with the vast majority placed on rehabilitation programmes. Children and their families returning from Syria are being treated for mental health issues at the world renowned Tavistock Centre in north London, in a special programme paid for by the Home office.
The Daily Telegraph has identified two
sisters from Manchester who are languishing in a detention camp in Syria along with three young children born during their stay with Isil. Shabina Aslam, 29, said: “We want to go back to England, back to my family, I want my children to have a normal life.”
Speaking ahead of the Munich security conference which began yesterday, Mr Younger said he was “very con- cerned” about returning British nationals that had fought for or supported Isil.
Mr Younger said: “All experience tells us that once someone’s put themselves in that sort of position they are likely to have acquired both the skills and connections that make them po- tentially very dangerous. Anyone who has put themselves in this situation can expect to be questioned and investigated and potentially prosecuted if they return to our jurisdiction.”
When asked about the case of Ms Begum, Mr Younger replied: “British nationals have a right to come to the UK.” He cautioned about showing triumphalism at the demise of Isil. “The military defeat of the caliphate does not represent the end of the terrorist threat that we face,” he said. “Daesh [Isil] is a resilient organisation and it is reorganising, returning to its natural state as an asymmetric, transnational terrorist organisation. We see it morphing, spreading out. Al-qaeda... has undergone a certain resurgence as a result of the degradation of Daesh and it is… a force that should also be taken seriously..”
Mr Younger was also keen to stress that Brexit would not harm enduring partnerships. Referring to the intelligence-sharing relationships with France and Germany, he said: “There are people alive in our three countries today because of terrorist attack plans that we have successfully disrupted, showing the value and importance of cooperation to all sides. This is not a one-way street.”