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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.
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.
