The wives of Islamic State members broke out of a Syrian prison camp on Tuesday after Kurdish-led troops were forced to abandon the site following violent clashes with the army.
Detainees of the al-Hol camp in eastern Syria, most of them women and many of them married to members of ISIS, began rioting on Tuesday.
The prison camp descended into chaos as the national army pushed to dismantle the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that had controlled the northeast of the country for over a decade.
Video shared on social media showed dozens of women, all wearing black burqas, emerging from the camp after they knocked down the fencing.
Another clip appears to show the camp’s female residents shouting and throwing rocks at a military truck.
Al-Hol camp is controlled by the SDF, which also oversees several other prison sites housing more than 9,000 ISIS fighters and around 40,000 women and children related to the Islamic State militants.
Among the facilities being run by the group is the al-Roj prison camp in north-eastern Syria, which is where British-born ISIS bride Shamima Begum is being held.
The recent unrest in the country has sparked fears that she could be freed from detention.
The wives of Islamic State members broke out of al-Hol prison camp in northeastern Syria on Tuesday
Video shared on social media showed dozens of women, all wearing black burqas, emerging from the camp after they knocked down the fencing
Recent unrest sparks renewed fears that British jihadi bride Shamima Begum (pictured) could be freed from detention
Ms Begum, 26, was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving London aged 15 to join the terror group in 2015.
It also follows renewed concerns that she could be allowed to return to the UK after European judges came to the ISIS bride’s defence.
Ms Begum, who married an ISIS fighter and had children, was found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019, and her citizenship was immediately revoked by then-home secretary Sajid Javid on national security grounds, kickstarting her lengthy legal challenge.
However, earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) formally requested that the Home Office clarify whether it had breached human rights and anti-trafficking laws – after Begum was stripped of her UK citizenship.
The latest intervention has sparked a major backlash, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowing to defend the Government’s decision at the time.
Conservative MP and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said he would ask Ms Mahmood for guarantees in the House of Commons that Begum will not be allowed back.
He also urged Ms Mahmood to fight the case ‘tooth and nail’.
Mr Philp called ISIS a ‘violent terrorist regime that brutally murdered their opponents and raped thousands of women and girls’.
Ms Begum lost an appeal in February 2023 against the decision to revoke her citizenship after the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled this was lawful.
Members of Syrian security forces in their vehicle enter the Al-Hol camp in the desert region of Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026
Ms Begum, 26, was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving London to join ISIS in 2015
It also follows renewed concerns that Ms Begum could be allowed to return to the UK after European judges came to the ISIS bride’s defence
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She then lost a Court of Appeal bid in February 2024, before she was most recently denied the chance to challenge it at the Supreme Court in August 2024.
However, Ms Begum’s lawyers warned at the time that they could still take her case to the European Court of Human Rights – which they later did.
The Home Office has now been instructed by the European Court to answer four questions regarding her citizenship.
The unrest in northeast Syria comes as the national army and the SDF announced a new truce after Kurdish-led troops were forced to abandon the al-Hol prison camp.
The Kurdish-led group has now lost almost all of its territory to forces loyal to Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The two sides have been clashing for two weeks, amid a breakdown in negotiations over a deal to merge their forces.
At least 1,500 ISIS detainees reportedly escaped from Shaddadi prison camp on Monday, which was also controlled by the SDF.
Syria’s interior ministry has accused the SDF of allowing the release of ‘a number of detainees’ from ISIS, along with their wives and children.
File photo: People walk among shelters at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh governorate on August 2, 2021
Al-Hol camp is controlled by the SDF, who also oversee several other prison sites housing more than 9,000 ISIS fighters and around 40,000 women and children related to the Islamic State militants. Pictured: Syrian women in al-Hol camp in July 2024.
Syrian government troops stand guard at the entrance to the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria’s Hasakeh province, Syria, Wednesday, January 21, 2026, after the withdrawal of the SDF
Members of Syrian security forces secure the Al-Hol camp in the desert region of Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026
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The SDF confirmed that its guards had withdrawn from the camp, but did not say whether any detainees escaped.
The group blamed ‘international indifference toward the issue of the (IS) terrorist organisation and the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing this serious matter.’
It said its forces had redeployed in other areas ‘that are facing increasing risks and threats’ from government forces.
The Syrian defence ministry, in a statement, said it is prepared to take over the al-Hol camp and the prisons and accused the SDF of using them as ‘bargaining chips.’
