ISIS could unleash a new wave of terror by springing fighters from camps like the one holding Shamima Begum, a top general who helped defeat the death cult has revealed.
General Mazloum Abdi, who leads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a Kurdish-led US-backed militia, sounded the alarm over the resurgent terror group.
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General Mazloum Abdi warned ISIS could stage a mass prisonbreak
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ISIS fighters could once again surge through the Middle East
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Detention camps – like the one holding Shamima Begum – could be attacked by ISIS
Speaking to The Sun in an interview with documentarian and ex-soldier Alan Duncan, Abdi said there are currently 10,000 male fighters in prisons ready to bring devastation back to the Middle East.
And the camps are known to include Brits, such as the infamous jihadi bride Shamima Begum.
US intelligence ranks 2,000 deranged ISIS fighters in the camps as “highly dangerous”.
The total figure of ISIS fighters and their families held in the prisons, al-Hol and al-Roj is 60,000.
General Abdi revealed SDF believe that ISIS forces – which were bravely driven back by his troops – are currently organising a prisonbreak of fighters still held in Syria.
He also warned the threat of ISIS continues in the West.
General Abdi said: “The threat of jihadist groups – not just ISIS – will exist until the fundamentals they were founded on are destroyed.
“We must continue our struggle.”
He also called on the West to do more to bring these fighters to justice – and to support trials and convictions for the atrocities they committed in the Middle East.
It comes as Syria attempts to piece itself back together after the ousting of ruthless dictator Bashar al-Assad – with the country now being run by Islamist ex-al-Qadea group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The HTS led a disparate alliance of rebels who stormed Damascus and led cowardly Assad to jump on his jet and flee into the embrace of Vladimir Putin.
ISIS will make comeback… we must act now or face another 911, says CIA boss
But fears are now growing over the country’s future regime and whether it will be the modernising influence it is promising to be – or fall back onto its jihadist roots.
And there is potential for groups like ISIS to surge in thepower vacuum.
But it is feared ISIS-driven radicalisation is fermenting – and they could be ready to spawn a new bloodthirsty generation of the once-defeated terror group.
General Abdi told The Sun: “The threat of ISIS in detention centres and camps is increasing and there is an increase in the movement of ISIS in general.
“There is a need to intensify efforts to continue to fight against ISIS if we don’t want to see a resurgence.”
And he made the chilling revelation about the death cult’s plan for a breakout.
The general explained: “Our intelligence reports indicate that ISIS is still wanting or organising some kind of a breakout of their inmates from the detention centres.”
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Fighters from the SDF take part in a military paradeCredit: AFP
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SDF general Mazloum Abdi speaks to Alan DuncanCredit: Alan Duncan
Who is Mazloum Abdi and the SDF?
By Henry Holloway
GENERAL Mazloum Abdi leads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – an army some 70,000 strong which was instrumental in defeating ISIS.
Backed by the US, the military was formed in 2015 as a coalition of various militia groups fighting against ISIS.
The jihadi death cult seized power in both Iraq and Syria in 2014.
And the SDF led the fight against them with Abdi acting as the commander-in-chief.
He led the defence of his home city of Kobani in Syria when it was attacked by ISIS – refusing orders from the US to withdraw.
His family home was then seized by ISIS fighters in street-by-street fighting.
Abdi then called in an airstrike on his own house to try and kill the ISIS fighters within.
ISIS held 34,000 square miles of stolen land at their peak – and the SDF faced a grinding battle to drive them out of Syria.
The SDF led the line for four years until ISIS was finally defeated in their last pockets of territory in 2019.
Kurdish troops raised their yellow flag over the ruins of Baghuz.
But even as they celebrated victory, Abdi warned that ISIS cells would continue to be a “great threat to our region and the whole world”.
He revealed there was recently an attack by ISIS on detention centres to try and free jihadi fighters.
ISIS fanatics have also moved to scoop up weapons and other military equipment left behind by the fleeing Assad troops.
The general explained there have also been escapes where known jihadis have then gone on to join the HTS and the Syrian National Army (SNA) – another opposition group backed by Turkey.
He warned these groups could attempt their own breakout of the camps – and absorb the ISIS fighters held there into their own ranks.
General Abdi said: “What happened recently is they opened most of the gates of the prisons and all the detention centres and released all the prisoners.
Syria must not be divided – all minorities’ rights must be protected
General Abdi
“They want to do the same in this area. When they speak about detention centres in areas under SDF control, they don’t say they are ISIS fighters, they say they are detainees.
“They are trying to say there is no difference between ISIS fighters and other detainees. This is exactly what they want to do.
“But in our areas, we don’t have any other detainees – the ones we have are designed to hold ISIS fighters.
“This is documented by the (US-led) coalition forces. “
Western politicians are once again discussing what should happen to citizens who left their home countries to join ISIS in the 2010s.
Begum – who left London as a teenager to join the vile cult – is the poster child of this bitter political row.
Donald Trump’s counter-terrorism chief, Sebastian Gorka, this week called for Brit fighters to be returned home.
He said any country that wants to be a “serious ally” to the US should repatriate ISIS fighters.
General Abdi told The Sun he believes Western fighters should be sent home once they have been brought to justice.
But he also wants to be able to try them in an internationally recognised court to get justice for the victims they brutalised and tortured in Syria.
The general explained there had been a lack of support from the West in working out this process.
US officials have also sounded the alarm over the resurgence of ISIS – and during the fall of the Assad regime launched airstrikes on the group.
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Duncan speaking to Abidi in a sitdown interview
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Women walk past a member of Kurdish security forces at the al-Hol campCredit: AFP
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Residents sell vegetables in al-Hol campCredit: Getty
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Al-hol camp from above – Syria has 12 refugee campsCredit: AFP
The continental US suffered an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on New Year’s Day killing 14 people when a pick-up truck flying the cult’s black flag was ploughed through crowds in New Orleans.
The SDF is one of many factions left in Syria after the fall of Assad – forming to battle ISIS while being backed by the US & UK.
They have found themselves however under attack from Turkey.
Ankara views them as an extension of the Kurdish guerilla movement the PKK – who the US and UK have also branded a terrorist group.
General Abdi called on the White House to help mediate between the groups – and to secure their future and the safety of the 2.5 million Kurds and other minorities in Syria.
He said: “We recognise there is a new situation in Syria – and we are working in a new reality.
“Syria must be a united country and our stance is that Syria must not be divided – all minorities’ rights must be protected.”
General Abdi also highlighted Kurdish women being brutalised by groups such as the SNA – including a video showing a group being forced to shout “Allahu Akbar” by militants as they were kidnapped.
He said: “They were behaving like ISIS – we don’t know where these women are, but we want to work on our side to get them released.”
The fate of any Kurdish victims held captive will be a key part of any talks between the SDF and the HTS & SNA.
Two Kurdish journalists – Nazim Dastan and Cihan Bilgin – were also killed in an airstrike by Turkey-backed forces.
General Abdi says the US is helping them enter talks with the HTS, SNA and Turkey to “resolve their problems” for the sake of Syria.
But he warned the West need to put more pressure of them to stop the attacks so there can be peace.
“A response is required now in these difficult times,” said Abdi.
He added that they are under attack “every day” from these groups.
Documentarian Duncan formerly served with the Queen’s Own Highlanders and Royal Irish Regiment.
He then fought alongside the Kurdish Peshmergas as a sniper in the battle against ISIS.
And after the war was over, he decided to use his camera as his new weapon in exposing the depravity of the jihadi cult’s crimes.
His most famous story was the rescue of Naveen Rasho – a Yazidi woman who was held as a slave by ISIS in Syria.
One of Naveen’s captors – an ISIS bride known as Nadine K – has since been jailed in Germany for her role in the genocide.
His full documentary on Naveen’s ordeal can viewed on Vimeo.
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Distressing video appeared to show Kurdish women kidnapped by Syrian rebels
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Kurdish journalist Nazim Dastan was killed in Syria
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And so was his colleague Cihan Bilgin
ISIS is coming back – we face another 9/11, says ex-CIA chief
By Ellie Doughty
THE West could face a repeat of 9/11 if leaders don’t act now to fight an ISIS resurgence, the former head of the CIA has warned.
Michael Morell, former director of the intelligence agency, believes the world feels the same now as it did before the devastating terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
Morell briefed President George Bush on the morning of 9/11 and stood with President Barack Obama 10 years later in the White House situation room as US forces killed Osama Bin Laden.
When asked if he fears the possibility another attack like the Twin Towers horror, Morell told The Sun: “Yes. Absolutely. 100 per cent.”
He said: “The feeling in the Bush White House and in the CIA after 9/11 is that we can never let this happen again.
“We need to do everything we can to protect America. We need to get back some of that feeling now to protect ourselves.”
The former CIA boss even warned that the UK could be at a greater risk than the US for a terror attack.
He told The Sun: “The threat to Europe and to your readers is even higher than it is in the US, even higher than what we say it is for the US.”
“They’ve already tried it in Western Europe. They’ve already done it in Russia,” he said, referring to the Crocus City Hall attack in March.
A group of ISIS-K gunmen stormed a busy concert venue and opened fire, before setting fire to the building, killing some 140 people.
READ MORE HERE