Skirmishes between the SNA and SDF have prompted fears over a ISIS resurgence (Image: Getty)
Islamic State must not be allowed to rebuild in Syria, Britain has told the Islamist rebels that overthrew Bashar al-Assad.
Diplomats have held talks with Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) leader Ahmad al Sharaa in Damascus, despite the group being proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
But intelligence and military chiefs are on red alert over fears political instability in Syria could lead to battle-hardened fighters breaking out of prisons in north-east Syria and returning to the UK.
And the UK has told HTS ISIS terrorists must not be allowed to regroup in the country.
Defence Secretary John Healey admitted the security of the SDF-controlled camps “always have been a major source of concern.”
The SDF controls camps housing ISIS fighters in north east Syria (Image: Getty)
Defence Secretary John Healey has spoken about the fall of the Syrian regime (Image: Getty)
Mr Healey said: “Daesh camps in Syria are, and always have been, a major source of concern.
“The role the SDF play in managing that part of Syria and guarding the camps is important to us and other coalition forces that fought so hard to deal with the threat that Daesh posed over the last two decades.
“We want to ensure the SDF can continue to do that job because doing that job keeps us all safe.”
Asked if he was worried the SDF may not be able to keep doing that job, the Defence Secretary said: “One of the commitments HTS has made is to keep a stable and secure Syria and part of the discussions that we have started to have with HTS and other allies is a commitment that Syria doesn’t become an operating ground for ISIS in the future.
“And we will look to hold them to that.”
There is currently no expectation that HTS will take over control of the camps, Mr Healey said.
Dozens of battle-hardened British extremists are believed to be in prisons – controlled by Kurdish groups.
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.
But experts warned Islamists across the globe are already viewing the fall of Bashar al-Assad as another victory for extremism.
Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director at the Counter Extremism Project, said: “To fully assess the emerging terrorism challenges emanating from the fall of the Assad regime and the rise of HTS, it is important to understand that from a global Islamist terrorist perspective, these events did not happen in a vacuum.
“Islamist terrorist sympathizers think that their forces were able to drive American and international forces out of Afghanistan in 2021; expel the French, the United Nations, and American and European forces out of West Africa since 2022; and now defeat and Iran in Syria.
“From their perspective, the past three years have been ones of victory.
“Globally, in none of the central areas of ISIS and al-Qaeda activity—Afghanistan, Africa, and the Middle East— do either of these global terrorist networks face significant military pressure.
“This reduced pressure on ISIS and al-Qaeda has already had a measurable effect on domestic security in Europe.
“Some speak already of a new terrorist wave on the continent. Not only do European security services continue to arrest ISIS supporters that plan attacks, the latest arrest happened in Germany in the second week of December.
“During 2024 it also became clear that Europe is once again facing all four model terrorist attack scenarios.”