Children of UK Isil troops in Syria rises to 60
MORE than 60 children of British Isil fighters are stranded in Syria – double the number previously thought – according to Save the Children.
The youngsters, many of them under five years old, are living in “dire conditions” in desolate camps or have been displaced following the recent escalation in fighting, the charity said.
A third of the initial 30 children were British nationals and two thirds were born in the “caliphate” of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) but entitled to citizenship through their parents, leaked UN refugee agency lists show.
The British identity of three orphans in one of the camps was also discovered last week by the BBC. The development prompted the Government to open the door to the possible return of unaccompanied British minors, but it did not extend to children who were with their parents.
Britain’s main allies in the coalition – the US, France and Australia – have all repatriated children from Syria, but the UK claims it is too dangerous.
A spokesman for Save the Children yesterday told The Daily Telegraph the repatriation of lone children was a “positive start” but not enough.
Sonia Kush, the charity’s Syria response director, said: “From our understanding the vast majority of British children are not orphans, they are with their mothers.”
Some of their mothers have been deprived of citizenship by the British Government, further complicating any possible return.
Two British women have already escaped from Ain Issa camp after Kurdish guards from the Syrian Democratic Forces – a key partner in the fight against Isil – fled following Turkish airstrikes.
One of the escapees, Tooba Gondal, 25, an Isil “matchmaker” from east London, was banned from re-entering the UK last November by a Home Office exclusion order.
Her three-year-old son’s late father was British, but her 18-month-old child has a Russian father. Experts have warned the longer the children remain in the camps, which have been described as “mini caliphates” due to the number of highly radicalised women, the worse their prospects will be.
Some British children have been living there for as long as two years, while many arrived after the fall of the last Isil stronghold of Baghuz in March.
Any possible repatriation effort became more dangerous today, after US and British coalition troops began withdrawing from Syria.
Videos of their retreat showed coalition vehicles being pelted with stones and rotting fruit by Syrian-kurds who accused them of abandoning them in their hour of need. One resident held up a sign reading: “Thank you to the American people, but (US President Donald) Trump betrayed us.” Another shouted: “It’s the biggest betrayal in history, we will never forget that.”
A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces accused Mr Trump of aiding and abetting genocide after the US president said Kurds needed to be “cleansed” from the border.
“Encouraging the ongoing genocide campaign is by far the greatest insult to our people so far,” he tweeted.
The US said 200 troops would remain in the east of Syria to protect oilfields currently under Kurdish control.