I’ve met Britain’s most notorious former ISIS bride Shamima Begum twice in the past three years and of all the time she has been detained in Syria now is the moment her future seems most uncertain. The brave forces of the Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force (SDF) and YPJ (Women’s Protection Units) have been guarding one of the UK’s most recognisable jihadis, sadly there have been a few to compare her against, day and night since Islamic State were finally defeated in 2019.

When Daesh were defeated, tens of thousands of Islamic extremists and their families were corralled into detention and prison camps across north east Syria in a region the Kurds call Rojava. Shamima, who fled to Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join ISIS, is currently kept at al-Roj camp in the furthest northeastern corner of Rojava close to the Iraq border.

The SDF and YPJ fought alongside British, American and Western forces against ISIS since 2014 in a brutal war that claimed an estimated 11,000 Kurdish lives. A status quo existed for the past six years where the Kurdish forces guarded the ISIS camps supported by the US military and the West, and in return they retained semi-autonomous control of north east Syria.

But in just three weeks this status quo has been shattered as the new interim Syrian government in the capital Damascus has launched a ruthless offensive, supported by Turkey, against the Kurds and the region containing thousands of ISIS prisoners.

The Syrian government argue they are uniting the country, the SDF say the the government are committing atrocities and genocide. Multiple ceasefires have been declared, but all have so failed.

In what I, and many others, regard as a breathtaking betrayal of the Kurds, US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, used a post on X to effectively throw the Kurds under the bus despite all the blood shed by their forces supporting the war against ISIS.

He wrote “the original purpose of the SDF as the primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired”. 

Worryingly however, the SDF claim many of the militias connected to Damascus are actually jihadist sympathisers. It’s not really that big a leap, the new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is himself a former member of the Islamic terror group Al-Qaeda which was infamously responsible for the 9/11 atrocity.

I have reported in this newspaper evidence that supports the SDF claim that many fighters connected to al-Sharaa’s regime are Islamic extremist sympathisers, we have seen regime forces wear symbols connected to ISIS, and there have been sickening accounts in recent days of Kurdish fighters who have surrendered being beheaded.

More chilling scenes emerged from videos last week showing Damascus forces taking control of the world’s largest ISIS detention camp, al-Hol. 

The facility which had been abandoned by retreating SDF forces holds a staggering 30,000 former jihadists and their families. In footage seen by this newspaper scores of inmates could be seen welcoming government forces arriving at the camp in jubilant scenes as fighters and prisoners shouted ‘allahu akbar’, meaning ‘God is Greatest’.

I visited al-Hol in September last year with the Daily Express. There had recently been a riot where extremists inmates had burnt town tents erected by Western charities offering training and courses for inmates to use when they returned to civilian life. The camp authorities told me the prisoners burnt the tents down because they didn’t want any help from the West.

There was also the case of a Russian woman who tried to start wearing Western clothes again. She was treated at the camp hospital after the other women stoned her. When she recovered they murdered her.

Another camp seized by Damascus was al-Aqtan prison. Syrian authorities claimed they freed 150 ISIS prisoners who were children from the camp, however there is also evidence children were targeted by ISIS to be groomed into becoming the next generation of jihadists. Kurds who guard the camps have often told me they have to separate the children from the adults because of this danger.

Shamima’s camp al-Roj is only 90 miles from al-Hol. It’s only around a two-hour drive along open desert roads. I’m told by sources close to the camp that Damascus forces could be just a few days away. 

The Americans clearly have been spooked by the rapid Damascus advance and scenes from the ISIS camps taken over by the Syria government. In a hastily released message from the US military command in the Middle East, CENTCOM, it was announced up to 7,000 ISIS prisoners would now be rapidly transferred to facilities in neighbouring Iraq. 

It’s not known if Shamima could be among them.

Sources close to the camp tell me the YPJ and SDF remain in control, but it’s reported many of the former ISIS brides are packing their bags in anticipation of what might come next.

Clearly some of them believe if Damascus militias seize the facility they may have a chance of escape, or maybe a chance to return to the twisted ISIS ideals they travelled halfway across the world to sign up to. 

I have met Shamima in the camp twice and other British former ISIS brides held with her.  During her time detained in the camp she has gone from wearing a hijab to wearing jeans and T-shirts and a baseball cap seemingly in an attempt to show her Western rehabilitation.

But will her new persona stay if Damascus forces take control of the camp? Will she be in danger because of her fame if more extremist elements in the camp, of which there are many, are now allowed free rein under the militias? 

There have been attacks by more extremist brides in the camp on those who are seen to have reverted to Western ways. It’s not unthinkable that Shamima could be at risk. 

However, some sources have told me the women may be transferred to a prison in Iraq, along with the thousands bussed over by the US military. We can only wait and see. 

I was told back in September last year by camp authorities that Britain had been quietly taking back some former Islamic State brides.

The Home Office then would not confirm if anyone had been returned, simply telling me in a statement at the time that “our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK”.

How safe the UK might be now that jihadist-sympathising militias have been allowed to take over the control of ISIS prison camps, we may have to worryingly wait and see.