Britain is at risk from jihadist terrorists returning to the UK in the wake of the demise of Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad, UK security experts have warned.
According to reports, around a dozen radicalised ISIS warmongers from the UK were being held in Kurdish-run prisons in the northern Syria, under the Assad regime.
Now that the dictator’s tenure has been forcibly ended, there are concerns from UK security services that the terrorists may be freed.
On Monday, the Home Office confirmed it was freezing all asylum applications from Syria amid the uncertainty posed by the situation on the ground.
Other European states, such as Germany and Sweden, have also frozen Syrian asylum applications. While Austria has gone a step further and has announced it is bringing in plans to deport its Syrian refugees.
“I have instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly return and deportation program to Syria,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told the Austrian press. There are around 100,000 Syrian refugees in Austria, according to official figures.
The Telegraph reports that between 10 and 15 British ISIS fighters are being held in Syrian Defence Force (SDF) facilities in northern Syria.
It is unclear whether the SDF – a Kurdish-run militia – will be able to continue to keep their prisons secure.
Apparently unaware of the Home Office’s policy announcement to pause asylum applications. Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned on Monday: “This flow into Syria could quickly become a flow back out and potentially increase the numbers using dangerous, illegal migration routes to continental Europe and the UK.”
In reference to Syrians returning home he said: “Seeing so many start to return to Syria is a positive sign for their hopes of a better future now that Assad is gone, but a lot depends on what happens now.”
He added that the fall of Assad presented a “moment of danger as well as opportunity”.
