4 hours ago
3
EXCLUSIVE: The former director of the world's biggest ISIS detention camp said thousands of former inmates had been released.
06:59, Tue, Feb 24, 2026 Updated: 07:00, Tue, Feb 24, 2026
Jihan Hanan is the former director of al-Hol camp in Syria (Image: Tim Merry / Daily Express)
Thousands of ISIS prisoners were freed last month, the former director of the world's biggest camp holding Islamic State prisoners warned, and Shamima Begum could be freed next. Jinan Hanan was in charge of al-Hol detention centre in Syria, which has held former jihadis and their families since ISIS were defeated by the US and global coalition forces in 2019.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force (SDF), a group which fought alongside the Americans and Britain in the war against ISIS, previously controlled the facility. It still guards other camps in Syria, including al-Roj, where Shamima Begum is held.
But the SDF were forced to abandon al-Hol last month when forces loyal to the new Syrian Government in the capital Damascus launched an offensive against Kurdish regions of the country. Damascus seized the camp on January 23, and jubilant scenes were recorded showing crowds of inmates shouting 'Allahu Akbar', meaning God is great in Arabic. The offensive by Damascus came as US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, announced the role of the SDF "as the primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired".
A child makes the ISIS symbol to Express photographer Tim Merry at al-Hol. (Image: Tim Merry / Daily Express)
But it's after Damascus forces took control of al-Hol, Ms Hanan has said almost all the foreign ISIS inmates were released, and women and children were taken away to be "radicalised again". Since al-Hol changed hands, Ms Hanan has been sent death threats from former inmates filmed in the burned-out remnants of her former camp office, which the Daily Express visited in September last year.
Syrian government foreign ministry representative Fadi al Qassem told Sky News inmates had escaped when Damascus took over because "the camp is large and the smuggling routes are very varied". The news of prisoners escaping is even more worrying as US Central Command (CENTCOM) Captain Tim Hawkins told the Daily Express the Americans were already attacking ISIS targets in Syria 'kind of daily'.
Ms Hanan told the Daily Express: "In the foreign section, there were 6,200 inmates, all of them were set free when al-Hol was taken over. In other prisons nearby too, the foreigners have been set free.
"We were working with NGOs and charities to rehabilitate the people in the camps, especially the women and children. Now those women and children have been taken away to be exploited and radicalised again. What has happened in al-Hol, and is happening in other camps, poses a danger not just to the region, but to the whole international community."
Women and children in al-Hol during the Express visit in September last year (Image: Tim Merry / Daily Express)
CENTCOM Admiral Charles Brad Cooper visited al-Hol as recently as September last year to discuss US support for its protection, management, and enhanced security and humanitarian support, but Ms Hanan revealed she and her staff had no warning from Washington about the January attack.
Discussing how she and her staff felt about the US decision to end support of the camps, Ms Hanan added: "I am disappointed, we worked together for years, and we had plans together. We had a programme to repatriate the Iraqi prisoners, which had begun, and how to deal with the Syrian inmates.
"We were also due to increase repatriation operations for the Western foreigners, but it seems not all our joint efforts were in vain. I don't see how the US can justify its actions now, especially when they repeatedly said they had deep concerns for the international community about the danger posed by the people in al-Hol and other camps in Syria."
When militias loyal to al-Sharaa's Government took control of al-Hol on January 23, Ms Hanan said she and her staff were lucky not to have been killed in revenge attacks by former inmates.
She said: "We received no warning from the Americans, or from al-Sharaa's interim Government; it was only because of increased local attacks that the Kurdish staff, including myself, chose not to go into work that day. "If we had, we would have been killed, and I would not be talking to you now. It is not fair or ethical that the global coalition and the Americans left us like this, they would have known an attack was imminent, but they didn't warn us."
Ms Hanan said she and her family have been forced to leave their home in nearby al-Ḥasaka and flee to ethnically Kurdish regions of Syria in the north east of the country.
The latest news from around the world Invalid email
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
She said: "The ISIS inmates set free from al-Hol were seeking revenge attacks on my family and me, and local people outside of the camp who supported the Islamic State are also now bolder and will try to kill us.
"We as Kurds stood with the global coalition to fight against ISIS and now we are left alone, we feel abandoned, now every Kurd lives under the threat of genocide and ethnic cleansing."
English (US) · 