Around 950 women and children tied to ISIS have managed to flee a Syrian prison camp, according to Kurdish officials. British-born ISIS “matchmaker” Tooba Gondal, 25, is believed to be among the people who escaped the camp. There are growing fears that the chaos sparked by the Turkish offenssive into Syria will lead to a re-emergence of ISIS forces.
Following this news, the US confirmed plans to evacuate roughly 1,000 troops from northern Syria in a “deliberate withdrawal”.
It is thought that at least 249 women and 700 children, who had ties to the so-called ‘caliphate’, have managed to flee from the Ain Issa camp.
When a Turkish shelling struck the camp, the ISIS affiliate and militants began to riot and eventually break out of the camp.
Jelal Ayaf, the co-chair of the camp’s management, claimed that ISIS sleeper cells emerged during the riot, attacking the remaining guards who had not already fled.
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The Northern Syria’s Kurdish administration said “mercenaries” had attacked the Ain Issa camp where “Daesh elements” attacked camp guards and opened the gates.
Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), tweeted: “Almost all suspected ISIS militants fled the camp.”
The UK-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published pictures of men, women in black niqabs and small children running away from the displacement camp.
The SOHR director Rami Abdulrahman said that was a state of “anarchy” inside the camp.
Asked about the possibility that Ms Gondal was among those that fled, the Rojava Information Centre said: “I don’t think anyone can say for sure right now but it’s highly likely.”
In response to the chaos, US President Trump has threatened to impose “powerful sanctions” on Turkey.
Turkey launched its offensive against the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last Wednesday, a move widely condemned by the international community.
As the Turkish offensive entered its fifth day, the UN put the figure displaced by the conflict at around 130,000 people.