Fears are intensifying a new security crisis in Syria could lead to ISIS fighters escaping (Image: Getty)
Jihadis who travelled to fight for ISIS should be stripped of their British citizenships, Sir has been told.
Dozens of battle-hardened extremists are believed to be in prisons – controlled by Kurdish groups – in north east Syria.
And spy chiefs are on red alert over fears the terrorists could escape from these camps and return to the UK, the Daily Express understands.
The on Wednesday urged ministers to copy the action taken with terror bride Shamima Begum and strip the fighters of their British citizenships to prevent them returning to the UK.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp wrote, in a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper: “The Government must take action so that those who went from the UK to support the murderous Daesh regime are not allowed back to the UK.
“We must every means available to stop the return of supporters of the regime. Furthermore, if these supporters are dual nationality or are entitled to dual nationality, we should strip them of their British citizenship.
“Daesh murdered and raped women and children and slaughtered those who opposed them.
“Supporters of Daesh have absolutely no place in the UK and I urge the Government to use the powers from the Nationality and Borders Act, despite yourself and voting against the Act, to speed up the process of removing citizenship from dangerous individuals.
“We must ensure the safety of the British public, and our orders is prioritised.”
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Security chiefs fear a vacuum leading to an increased terror risk (Image: Getty)
Islamic State fighters devastated much of the Middle East (Image: Getty)
It is illegal to render an individual “stateless”. But if a terrorist has dual-nationality – as Ms Begum did with Bangladesh – the Home Office could remove their British citizenship.
Intelligence analysts fear Syrian Democratic Forces will be dragged into fights with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army and other rebel groups.
Thousands of former Isis fighters and other jihadists are being held in camps controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group backed by the United States, in northeast Syria.
This is understood to include dozens of battle-hardened British jihadists.
Among them is Jack Letts, 29, who left the UK in 2014 to join the Islamic State group after converting to Islam as a teenager. He fought on the front line in Iraq, once getting badly injured, but claims he never killed anyone.
Shahan Choudhury, from Tower Hamlets, east London, was one of the last British Isis members to be captured in 2019 at the final battle for Baghouz. Though the Home Office has already stripped Choudhury and his wife of their citizenships, they are still being held in the camps in Syria.
Turkey sees the SDF as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which fought for decades inside Turkey in a bid to establish Kurdistan as an independent state.
Coalition forces, including Britain and America, had “pinned back” the jihadists since the height of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014 when they controlled large proportions of territory in both countries.
The ISIS terrorists have also engaged with the Syrian Government and Russian forces.
But analysts are waiting to see whether the “vacuum” created by the toppling of al-Assad will make it harder to fight terrorism, allowing the extremists to regroup, build strength, spread and commit more atrocities.
And many within Whitehall are concerned the Syrian Democratic Forces – a Kurdish-led coalition backed by the US – in North East Syria could be dragged into skirmishes, potentially allowing the jailed jihadis to overrun the remaining SDF guards.
Meanwhile the UK suspended all asylum claims from Syria in response to the weekend’s events.
Millions of Syrians fled the country after the outbreak of civil war and thousands were granted asylum in the UK, but the Home Office said decisions on applications would now be paused while the department reviews the situation.
Some 5,548 Syrians applied for asylum in the UK in the year to September 2024 – the highest number for any 12-month period since records began in 2001.
Kemi Badenoch said: “The Prime Minister has consistently backed criminals over law abiding British people. he defended terrorists like Hizb ut-Tahrir in the European court. He argued all immigration law had a racist undercurrent. He voted against life sentences for people smugglers.
“He voted against more than 100 measures to control migration. He even said it was wrong when the took away Shamima Begum’s citizenship.
“Now he has appointed her defence lawyer as his attorney general. Events in Syria mean we may see more small boat arrivals. For once will he take the side of the British people and strip citizenship from jihadi terrorists and supporters of Assad who want to come back and destroy this country?”
Sir Keir dodged the question as he said: “I was director of public prosecutions for five years. Unlike anyone on their benches I was prosecuting for five years hundreds of thousands of criminals. That includes huge terrorist gangs, rapists. I was working for three of those five years with the then home secretary Theresa May who commended the work that i did at the end of those five years.
“So for her to stand there and say I haven’t done anything in law enforcement, I dedicated five years of my life to law enforcement, locking up criminals which is more than she would say.”