TL:DR – Shamima Begum may be released from Syrian camp amid escalating conflict | News World

• Shamima Begum, 26, could be released from a Syrian prison camp amid rising tensions between Kurdish fighters and government forces.
• Begum was stripped of her UK citizenship in 2019 after travelling to Syria at 15 to join ISIS.
• She has expressed deep regret over her involvement with the group, describing feelings of shame.
• Fighting has intensified near the al-Roj detention camp, raising concerns about potential prisoner releases.
• Thousands of ISIS members remain detained without trial in northern Syria.

Shamima Begum could be freed from Syrian prison camp as fighting intensifies | News World

London, who Shamima is photographed at Roj Camp, where she is currently interred with other women who were members of Islamic State, on March 14, 2021, in Roj camp, Syria. (Photo by Sam Tarling/Getty Images)

Begum has been living in a Syrian prison for more than five years

Shamima Begum could soon be freed from a prison camp in Syria as tensions grow between Kurdish fighters and government forces.

Begum, 26, has been inside the prison for years after being stripped of her citizenship in 2019.

She travelled from east London to Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join Islamic State (IS), marrying a 27-year-old Dutch national.

The former Brit has since said she was ‘ashamed’ to have joined the group, regretting her decision deeply.

But after spending years inside the Syrian prison, she could be free as clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US, and government forces increase.

There has been intense fighting outside of al-Roj detention camp, where Shamima lives, with speculation that those inside could be freed.

Western officials, mainly from Reform UK, have described the prisoners as a ‘terror army’ in waiting, with concerns about where they will go if freed.

She left east London in 2015 to join ISIS

Inside the prison walls, thousands of ISIS soldiers and tens of thousands of women and children are locked up.

This week, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said several of its fighters had been killed and more than a dozen wounded near the camps.

The SDF, the main US-backed force that fought IS in Syria, controls more than a dozen prisons in the northeast where 9,000 IS members have been held for years without trial.

Many of the detained extremists are believed to have carried out atrocities in Syria and Iraq after IS declared a caliphate in June 2014 over large parts of the two countries.

Begum was found living in the Syrian prison in 2019

Since joining ISIS, Begum gave birth to a few children – all of whom died young – and was pregnant when she was found living inside a camp after leaving the UK.

In 2021, she gave a tell-all interview where she said she was ‘groomed’ and ‘manipulated into coming’ to Syria.

She said at the time: ‘I am completely sorry for anyone who has been affected by ISIS, I in no way agree or try to justify what they did.

‘It’s not justifiable to kill innocent people in the name of religion. I just want to apologise. I am sorry.’