‘I don’t regret it for a second.’ This World: Anna: The Woman Who Went to Fight ISIS, Anna Campbell, BBC 2019
In 2017 a young British woman went to Syria: she was going to fight the Islamic State group. She joined the YPJ, an all-female Kurdish militia, an important ally for the West in the war against terror. A year later she was killed. ibid.
In 2012 a civil war swept through Syria. The Kurds in Rojava in the north-east of the country took control of their territories for the first time in a hundred years. After generations of oppression, they seized the opportunity to establish an autonomous region. ibid.
The progeny, the fully grown-up manic adolescent creature belonging to Paris, London, Obama and the United States. John Pilger, interview Going Underground, ‘Everything the West Has Done was to Create Isis’, Youtube 18.26
The Western war against ISIS is a farce. ibid.
It is the West that has created this monster. ibid.
Iraqi armed forces backed by US military advisors are currently fighting to recapture Mosul, the largest city held by Isis. This is the story of their rise. Isis: The Rise of Terror, History 2020
They claim to live by the rules of 7th century Muhammad. They built an Islamic state in the heart of the ancient world. Their mission: kill those who don’t believe as they do wherever they may be. But say their war will continue until the end of days. But how did Isis rise and how long will their reign of terror last? ibid.
Khalifah: A terrorist nation that Isis have already built in Iraq and Syria. At least 30,000 foreigners have abandoned their own countries to begin new lives in the Islamic state. ibid.
Wives are a commodity whose rights can ever equal their husband. ibid.
As Iraq descended into chaos, a small-time criminal seized an opportunity to make his dark vision come true. He created an organisation that would become the most feared terror group the world had ever known: Isis. ibid.
American Jihadi Bride Judged No Longer a Citizen: Hoda Muthana banned from returning to the US after fleeing in 2014 to join ISIS terrorists in Syria. The Return: Life After Isis, newspaper headline, Sky Documentaries 2021
No Regrets. No Remorse. No Entry. ibid.
Thousands of Isis families defeated and demoralised from facing surrender … and no-one knows what to do with them. ibid. news
ROJ detention camps, north-eastern Syria: home to 1,500 women and children from 56 different nations. ibid. caption
ISIS bride’s plea: Shamima Begum claims she was ‘just a housewife’ during her four years in Syria. ibid. Good Morning Britain news banner
We couldn’t distinguish between what was fake news and what was real news. We were all really young and naive. ibid.
The UK government has removed Shamima Begum’s citizenship. The Supreme Court has ruled she will not be able to re-enter the UK to fight her case in person. ibid. captions
64,000 Isis women and children still remain in Kurdish-controlled camps in north-eastern Syria. ibid.
It appeared the Islamists would take over the whole country … French commandos landed in Bamaco … In a matter of weeks northern Mali was back under French control … In 2013 the United Nations agreed to take over responsibility of securing the north of Mali. France started to withdraw some troops … UN troops were dying in the desert: a fight that would fester away from the world’s scrutiny. Secret Wars Uncovered s1e8: Mali, History 2020
Chronically underfunded, world leaders were slow to deliver on their promise to deliver troops on the ground. ibid.
Terror networks such as ISA, chased out of Syria and Iraq, find a fertile recruiting ground in northern Mali. ibid.
October 2014: Among those passing through Departures 25 year old care-worker Tareena Shakil. Shakil paid £400 to take her 14-month son … supposedly or a week-long holiday … She was preparing to take him across the border to Syria, a stronghold of the world’s most feared terrorist group, Isis … But just 4 months later she was back in the UK insisting she had been forced into going. When her plane touched down in February 2015 she promised to tell anti-terrorist police the full story. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s5e1, Quest Red 2021
Their plan is to return the entire world – not just the Middle East – to the days of the caliphate and either convert all of us so-called infidels into born-again Islamic believers or kill us. David Hackworth
The first of a series of mass murders in Europe … A monster that would rise up and attack Europe. Isis: Birth of a Monster, Canal+ 2017
‘We live in hunger while they all eat their fill. And we’re left starving! That’s the injustice of ISIL. And if you protest, they kill you.’ ibid. mother with children
In the world of global jihad Zarqawi became a star and began to attract more and more fighters from all across the world. ibid.
‘What was there to be upset over? We went to Isis. That was it. It was over. They just wanted to continue the story.’ The Shamima Begum Story, BBC 2023
Shamima Begum was 15 years old when she left London to join the Islamic State Group. For the first time she’s giving her account of what happened over the last 8 years. ibid. caption
Shamima Begum and her two friends have flown to Turkey. They’ve been told by Isis to go to Istanbul Bus Station where someone will meet them. ibid.
February 20th 2015: Shamima Begum and her friends are being transferred between cars by an Isis people smuggler. ibid.
Mohammed Rasheed may have smuggled more than 140 people into Isis controlled Syria. ibid.
‘There’s no other way. You have to get married.’ ibid. Shamima
Shamima Begum lived with Isis for almost four years. Little is known about what she did during that time. ibid.
Almost four years to the day that Shimima Begum left London, she has made it out of Isis territory alive. Her husband is in prison. Her two children have died. She is nine months pregnant with her third child. ibid.
Thousands of men, women and children who were with Isis have been left in makeshift detention facilities run by Kurdish forces. The facilities are considered insecure. ibid.