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The possibility of British jihadists returning home from Syria is a cause for concern, according to Dame Angela Eagle, the UK’s minister for border security and asylum. She suggested that the government was closely monitoring the activities in the region, after Syria’s Assad regime was toppled. Dozens of UK nationals who travelled to the country to fight for jihadist groups are believed to be detained in Kurdish-run camps in Northern Syria. The BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner, warns of underlying risks posed by Islamist groups trying to profit from confusion and expand their areas of operation in the Northern region of Syria.
It is believed that many British jihadists are being held captive in the Kurdish-controlled areas of North-Eastern Syria, with little evidence that the security situation in those camps is likely to change in the near future. Where women and children are detained, their numbers can be as high as 46,000. British intelligence services, meanwhile, continue to carefully monitor the situation. In the event of the jihadists attempting to return, Dame Angela claimed Britain’s security forces would “watch very, very closely,” adding that the potential return of jihadists would be “a matter of great concern” to Britain.
Turkey has also opposed the presence of Kurdish forces in Syria close to its borders, viewing the largest militia in the alliance as a terrorist organization. Frank Gardner warns that Turkish hostility may force the Syrian Kurds into abandoning prisons holding captured ISIS fighters, which is a concern that Dame Angela echoed. Meanwhile, the city of Aleppo remains vulnerable, with the Syrian National Army and Turkish troops decrypting SDF- and YPG-held areas.
Britain has been grappling with the problem of what to do with its citizens who were permitted to fight in Syrian lands. In one high-profile case, a British resident, Shamima Begum, travelled to Syria in 2015 as a 15-year-old to fight for the cause of the Islamic State. The UK revoked her citizenship, leaving Begum unable to return, particularly as the British courts in August of this year rejected her final attempt to challenge the removal of her citizenship. Nonetheless, activists have suggested that foreign fighters that demand asylum could have the right to appeal; meanwhile, many remain in doubt as to whether asylum-seeking Syrian refugees will be granted leave to remain in the UK
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