To Rescue a Child

"The SDF [Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Forces] is under extreme pressure from the local Syrian tribes to release women and children from al-Hol. This situation was a major stress factor between the SDF and the tribes in eastern Syria."

"The SDF is essentially relying on the tribes to faithfully implement an honor system that the women and children will not turn into seeds of IS ready to spring up into a new caliphate. The SDF is transferring responsibility onto the tribes to make sure that emptying al-Hol of local women and children, many of whom may still have some sympathy for [IS], does not become a catastrophic security risk."

Nicholas Heras, Syria expert, Institute for the Study of War, Washington-based think tank

 

"The SDF’s waning capabilities and resources and the limitations they place on NGOs place the burden on local communities to integrate deeply traumatized and often radicalized women and children. That said, I doubt that the SDF will risk the security of the area by rushing into releasing all Syrians at once. They fear the chaos that might ensue more than anyone else."

Dareen Khalifa, Syria analyst, International Crisis Group

"Most IS women did not have combat roles and do not have blood on their hands. However, there are also IS diehards and enforcers in al-Hol who are dangerous and should not be amnestied. They have killed, burned tents, harassed and beaten the others who are disillusioned and now hate IS."

Anne Speckhard, director, International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism

In 2019 a little girl was found alone on a road in northeastern Syria whose parents and siblings had been killed it was conjectured in an airstrike during the battle against the Islamic State. The then-four-year-old was recognized as Canadian although she was born in Syria when her parents chose to leave Canada to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. They made their choice to join the 'caliphate' to take part in the brave new world of Islamist terror running rampant in the region. Their children paid the price of their parents' dream of an Islamist caliphate.

The government of Canada has been under pressure to bring the child known as Amira to Canada, to a country she has never known, to extended family she has no idea exists, but who are prepared to look after her and raise her, in the absence of her parents. She has been taken from the camp, and is being escorted by Canadian consular officials. She was initially taken to Iraq and from there flown to Canada. The remaining 46 Canadians who chose to leave Canada to join the Islamic State caliphate and make their future there, remain at the Al-Hawl camp with them, their 25 children.

Al-Hawl Camp, run by the Kurdish forces, where captured ISIL fighters and their families are held. Photo by Human Rights Watch

"We are delighted by this news and would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has made this possible."

"We would kindly request privacy as my niece  transitions into her new life in Canada."

Toronto engineer, Amira's uncle Ibrahim

The other 46 Canadians remain in the Al-Hawl camp. There is no question that they are ISIL members and were involved in Islamic State affairs, perhaps including the atrocities infamously committed by the terrorists. Collecting evidence to prove their state of ISIL involvement while in Syria is next to impossible. Returning them to Canada without evidence of their involvement would mean not knowing what kind of mindset is loose and what their presence might mean for the safety and security of the population and the state.

 

The reality is that they made a conscious choice to leave Canada to join an outlawed group of Islamists whose reputation as terrorists for whom no kind of bloodletting, no depth of inhumane treatment of others fazed them, but rather led them to ever more atrocious acts of depraved murder to enhance their formidable reputations as crazed butchers. They are themselves responsible for the miserable life they lead in a squalid prisoner camp, which is likely far better than what prisoners of ISIL experienced.

The al-Hawl refugee camp in north-eastern Syria where the five-year-old Canadian girl has been held by Kurdish forces. Photograph: Crispin Blunt/PA