Will Syria's ISIS camps remain secure? | BBC News

Hi, I'm Celia Hatton and welcome to the. BBC's Global News podcast on YouTube, where we go behind the headlines to. focus on one story and why it matters. Today, we're looking at what's happening. to the prison camps holding Islamic. State suspects and their families after. a series of high-profile escapes. Those. camps are in Syria, and the Syrian. government's just reached a ceasefire. deal that will see Kurdish forces. gradually integrate with the Syrian. army. It's hoped this will end weeks of.

fighting in the northeast. Stability in. that part of Syria is really important. to people in many countries because. that's where the camps are located and. they're guarded by the Kurds. We're. joined by the BBC's Middle East. correspondent, Lena Synab, who's just. returned from Syria. Lena, hi. >> Pleasure. Thanks for having me. >> Okay, so can we start by talking about. these camps, these Islamic State fighter. camps? I mean, tell us how big are they.

and and who is being held inside them? >> Well, there are several locations, several prisons, if we can call them, but the biggest one is Alul camp in. northeast Syria. uh there are you know. thousands of is fighters who are being. held there kept there along with their. families you would find many women in. like full veil lab bora there are many. children as well the situation is really. uh tragic there it's like a um you know.

a ticking bomb for radicalization you. know children if they see a woman. without um you know a headscarve on they. would shout on on them that they are. infidel that they should be killed is. just really a locked in place for. radicalization in really dire. conditions. And up until last week or. the week before, all the responsibility. of these um you know camps and prisons. was under the control of um uh SDF. fighters or the Syrian Democratic.

Forces, the Kurdish forces. But. throughout the negotiations and the deal. discussed with the government, uh the. agreement was that they hand over the um. authority of controlling and uh. monitoring these camps to the uh. government to the official government. But unfortunately, we've seen that in. some cases the SDF abandoned the. prisons, abandoned the camps. In one. case particularly the the doors were.

left wide open and we have heard. confirmed reports at least you know. dozens if not more of IS fighters fled. these prisons trying to escape into. Iraq. The Syrian government said that. they've captured most of them but we're. not sure about the exact figures and. numbers. >> But there are foreign fighters or people. from other countries who made their way. to Syria and ended up in those camps. >> Yeah. thousands of them. I mean, we've. seen that during the IS times. We've.

seen people from the US, from the UK, uh, you know, from France, from, you. know, all AC across the the. international world where, you know, there was a hub for radicalization and. they joined forces of is and of course. uh there are still cases where their. respective countries are still. considering what to do with them. And. this is where the role of the Syrian. government comes because this is what. they've been saying over the past um. week about uh these prisons. Uh now the.

US said that they are moving 7,000. fighters. They've already started to. move them from Syria uh from northeast. Syria to Iraq. But the rest the Syrian. government said that they will be going. through um you know legal process. There. will be trial. Those who are convicted. will be uh prosecuted. But those who are. have nothing to be held for, they will. be referred to rehabilitation center. because after years of being in these. camps, you've been fed with radical.

ideologies that is going to be a danger. for the community and for the whole. world. I wonder if we can take a step. back at this moment because we've been. talking about Kurdish forces guarding is. suspects. and fighting the Syrian army and now. announcing a a ceasefire deal. But how. did we get to this point after that uh. optimism, that point of optimism last. year when the new government took power,

when the uh when the Assad regime was. overthrown? Well, actually, if you look. back at that moment, and if you look. back particularly at March 2025, the SDF forces led by their leader. Muslim Abdi was in Damascus, sat with. President Al-Shara and signed an. agreement, an agreement that will unify. Syria and that will uh, you know, merge. the Kurdish forces into the Syrian army. and, you know, Syrian public.

institutions. This is something that. also the government gave um you know a. deadline for end of 2025 to be. implemented and throughout the whole. year we've been told by government. forces that there were many meetings. many discussions and many negotiations. going on with the Kurdish air forces. with SDF and they've rejected. implementing this agreement. >> Okay. So they signed a deal in March. 2025 and then but it it didn't really. ever get enacted. That's that's sort of.

what happened. >> Absolutely. And and this this agreement. came to to um be realized uh supported. by the US and US being the main ally for. the Kurdish. Uh but the Kurdish forces. did not get the message clear. They. still wanted to keep their autonomous. rule over northeast Syria. And mind you. also that they don't only control. Kurdish majority Kurdish areas but they. also control Arab areas like Disor and.

Raka that are the two big cities of oil. reserve and have the highest source of. income for the country. They've been. controlling it. They've been controlling. the income. They've been controlling the. border crossing. They have their own. airports. And this is something that the. Syrian new government didn't want to um. agree for. They the president al-Shara. issued a decree last week granting the. Kurds their rights for citizenship, their rights for nationality, for.

language to be equal citizens with. Syrians, something that the Assad uh. rejected and deprived them of since the. 1960s. Uh they've been called as the. unknown or unregistered. They had zero. rights in Syria and this is definitely. not the way to go forward. So, President. Ashara issued a decree to include them. and to give them equal rights. However, uh their leadership refused to give up. on oil, give up on autonomous rule and.

on, you know, controlling northeast. Syria. But with pressure and mediation. from mainly the US and many other. partners, we've seen an agreement come. to real effects today. And they've. announced that they will be merging into. the army and they have their own also. divisions. Uh they will have their own. brigades within divisions in Kurdish. controlled areas. >> You mentioned the United States had been. supporting the Kurds, had close ties. with the Kurds for for years.

Some are arguing that the United States. has now abandoned the Kurds by really. supporting placing support behind the. new Syrian government. What what do you. make of that? >> I think it depends on how you read uh. the American position. The uh the US. supported SDF, Syrian Democratic Forces. over the past years and they were. partners in the fight uh against. Now. there is a central government in. Damascus. In the past, you know, there.

was a government that the US opposed and. even sanctioned. But now this is a. government that is opening new ties with. the world that is, you know, having. great relationship with the US. They. even lifted sanctions. They're. supporting the leadership of President. Alshara. They lifted him from even the. terrorism list. Uh so uh they sent a. clear message to SDF now especially that. you know President Shara signed an. agreement with the US that they will. that Syria will will join forces with.

the US in in the fight against IS. So. the role now should go to the government. in this uh mandate. The US did not. abandon the Kurds but basically told the. Kurds your role now is to be part of. Syria, part of the Syrian government, part of a united Syria. The most. important issue is that for this. government to prove that it is capable. of representing a multithnic, multi-religious uh and diverse country.

to protect the minority groups rights. including the Kurds and have a Syria. that represents the whole society. Something that is still at stake in. Syria. >> Thanks, Lena. If you liked this episode, please subscribe to us here on YouTube. And if you'd like us to cover any other. stories, leave a comment below. You can. hear more international news on the. BBC's Global News podcast. Listen. wherever you get your podcasts. Bye-bye.