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Shamima Begum 'could be free in days' as fighting erupts in Syria

This comes as Shamima Begum had her bid to return to the UK revived after European judges ordered the Home Office to justify stripping her British citizenship

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British-born Shamima Begum from Bethnal Green in London, pictured in Roj camp, 2021.
British-born Shamima Begum from Bethnal Green in London, pictured in Roj camp, 2021. Picture: Getty

By Alice Padgett

Shamima Begum could be freed from her Syrian detention camp as violence erupts around Islamic State prisons.

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Begum, 26, left London to join ISIS when she was 15-years-old.

She was stripped of her British citizenship and is currently held in the al-Roj detention camp in north-east Syria.

However, fighting in the region has broken out between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Islamic State (IS) fighters.

The US-backed SDF, who control the IS detention camps, is losing ground to IS fighters.

Around 9,000 IS fighters and some 40,000 women and children associated with the group (British men, women and children) are currently held in makeshift camps - who could be released if the prisons are opened.

Soldiers fire into the air amid celebrations a day after Syrian government troops took control of Raqqa from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Soldiers fire into the air amid celebrations a day after Syrian government troops took control of Raqqa from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Picture: Alamy

“If the camps collapse in a disorderly fashion, there are some people within those camps who are adherents to Isis and will be out,” said a regional expert familiar with the situation told The Telegraph.

The al-Aqtan prison near Raqqa, a prison in Deir al-Zour and another camp in al-Shadadi, have all reported clashes.

The SDF warned that the attempts to seize the prisons "could have serious security repercussions that threaten stability and pave the way for a return to chaos and terrorism".

This comes as Shamima Begum had her bid to return to the UK revived after European judges ordered the Home Office to justify stripping her British citizenship.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has formally ordered the Home Office to justify the move in accordance with international law following an application from Begum’s lawyers.

Shamima Begum.
Shamima Begum. Picture: Alamy

ECHR judges are now assessing whether the UK Government failed to look into whether it violated human rights and anti-trafficking laws, and whether the Home Office failed to those into account by banning the former child bride from returning to Britain.

Lawyers for Begum, who left east London to join Islamic State when she was 15, have hailed the step as an “unprecedented opportunity”.

Yesterday, Syrian state media reported that the government has agreed a nationwide ceasefire with the SDF to end two weeks of fighting.

The SDF will now be integrated into Syria's military and state institutions as part of a 14-point agreement, which will also allow Syrian state institutions to reassert control over three eastern and northern governorates: al-Hasakah, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa.

The deal follows months of failed negotiations to integrate Kurdish forces into the state, during which President Ahmed al-Sharaa said it was unacceptable for the SDF to control a quarter of the country and hold its main oil and commodities resources.