UK repatriates 10 ISIS children from NE Syria, puts up for adoption
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – British authorities repatriate in secret at least 10 children of the Islamic State (ISIS) militants from Northeastern Syria and put them up for adoption, a British newspaper revealed on Monday.
According to The Sunday Times, at least 10 unaccompanied orphans of women who joined ISIS have been repatriated by the UK authorities from camps in northeastern Syria.
The children were repatriated in 2022. Among them are two siblings whose British mother was killed in Syria in 2019 and their non-British father was captured and currently detained in a prison for foreign ISIS militants.
The two siblings now live with foster carers and are set to be adopted.
The children were transferred with relatives to the Hawl Camp in southeast of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, after the fall of ISIS. They were later moved to a center for orphans.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, defeated the group after fierce battles in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, ending the so-called ISIS caliphate.
Estimations suggest that at least 38 possible British children along with 21 women remain in camps in Syria.
A UK Foreign Office official said, “Each request for consular assistance from Syria is considered on a case-by-case basis taking into account all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to, national security.”
After Baghouz, thousands of ISIS militants were transferred to prisons, while their families were transferred to Hawl and Roj camps in areas held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
The AANES has repeatedly called on states to repatriate their nationals who came from about 60 countries and joined the extremist group.
Despite many calls, the majority of countries, including those participating in the Global Coalition, refuse to repatriate their nationals.
Meanwhile, Zana Omar, a journalist and expert on terrorism based in the city of Qamishli, previously stressed to North Press the urgency of establishing more rehabilitation centers in northeastern Syria, compatible with the numbers of children in camps like Hawl and Roj.
Omar emphasized the need to open centers to speed up the rehabilitation of ISIS children. “ISIS women have adopted an extremist ideology and have made all efforts to pass it down to their children,” he said.
The possibility of these children becoming future jihadists increases without proper rehabilitation, he added.