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included a number of Europeans, notably: an
Irish woman and her daughter,4 at least one
British woman and her two children,5 at least nine
French women and about 25 children,6 at least
three Belgian women and their children,7 and at
least one German woman and one Swedish
woman with their respective children.8 Some of
these families managed to return to their home
countries in the following months, via Turkey,
while others are still unaccounted for.
Except for the Ain Issa incident, however, the
worst-case scenario of massive escapes from the
detention facilities located near the Turkish
border did not materialise. Given the context, this
is nearly a small miracle. Indeed, following the
Turkish offensive, Kurdish forces had
redeployed part of their guards and staff away
from securing detention facilities to defend the
Kurdish territory, while insecurity was
simultaneously rising in the camps and prisons as
a result of internal revolts. Furthermore, ISIS
pledges to free jihadi detainees had already
increased the pressure on the Kurdish
authorities.9
Concern among
European
intelligence services was very high in October
2019.
If the worst could be avoided, the situation
further deteriorated nonetheless. Over the past
year, several mutinies have occurred in Kurdish
detention facilities. For instance, on 29 March
2020, ISIS detainees managed to take control of
part of the al-Sinaa prison, in northeast Syria’s
town of Hasakah, where 5,000 ISIS male fighters
are held, including a number of Europeans.10 The
riot was quelled within 24 hours, but more riots
broke out in the same prison in early May, in June
and twice in September 2020, as well as a number
of jailbreaks attempted. 1 1 No European male
fighter has reportedly escaped from Kurdish
prisons, but according to a report from the global
coalition against ISIS, the “the risk of a mass
breakout cannot be discounted��.12
Similarly, in camps for women and children, the
security
conditions
have
significantly
deteriorated. This is notably the case in the
infamous camp of al-Hol, where 65,000 women
and children are being held,13 mostly Syrians and
Iraqis – although that number will soon be
drastically reduced as a result of the recent
announcement by the Kurdish authorities that
most of the 28,000 Syrian women and children in
al-Hol would be released. 14 Security conditions
have particularly worsened in the “annex” of the
camp, where 10,000 “foreigners” from around 60
different nationalities are still being held.15 Cases
of organised rebellion, violence among ISIS
women and children, or power grab by extremist
women trying to impose ISIS-style sharia law in
the camp have been repeatedly reported.16 Similar
incidents were already at play in 2019, but the
situation clearly “became worse since the Turkish
incursion”.17
A number of escapes of ISIS women and children
have been reported in al-Hol. According to the
Kurdish forces, more than 700 attempted escapes
were prevented between March 2019 and
September 2020, noting that these attempts have
increased since October 2019.18 This significant
number of (attempted) getaways highlight the
growing importance of financing and smuggling
networks that allow these women to raise funding
and get support for their exfiltration, whose cost
is estimated between $10,000 and $35,000. 19 A
number of Europeans have managed to escape
al-Hol under these conditions since October
2019, including: at least 4 Finnish women with
children,20 at least 10 Dutch women with
children,21 at least 10 French women with
children,22 about 6-10 Swedish women with
children,23 at least 4 Belgian women with
children,24 at least 2 German women with
EGMONT Royal Institute for International Relations
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