The Return Of The Isis Bride
Up until March 2019, when it lost its final piece of territory, ISIS had recruited thousands of young people from the West. A high proportion of the recruits were women.
Today Europe is facing a new threat. Radicalised individuals once committed to ISIS ideology return. There’s little armed conflict in the region which was once the “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq. But reports claim thousands of sleeper agents in the West remain a potential threat.
What happens when former brides or ISIS fighters are repatriated?
Many serve jail sentences. Last month, Belgium took back six former Isis brides and 10 children from prison camp in Syria. Some who renounce their former faith move on to work on counter-terrorism
What’s the public perspective?
Divided. Some see the women as victims who need another chance.Their lives are at risk in Syria. Shamima Begun, now aged 22, could face execution if she faces trial there for joining ISIS.
Sympathisers express concern the children born to former Isis brides are more at risk of radicalisation in the camps. Others regard the former Jihadi female recruits should never return to their former countries. They argue they deserve to stay where they are and consider them a future potential risk to the West.
No one wants them.
Is ISIS Defeated?
On January 20, 2022, insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), attacked Al-Sina prison in Al-Hasakah in Syria’s far northeast. The attack sent a message that the organization still has significant military, financial, and media abilities.The post-caliphate strategy for insurgencies is not necessarily contingent on territorial control.
Do the press follow them?
Some repatriated Isis brides lead future lives in obscurity. Others change their image dramatically and hit the headlines again for different reasons, such as British born Texan resident Tania Joya who had a nine-month affair with a married Congressman Van Taylor.
