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The children of IS: At risk of radicalisation and violence in Syrian camps

Thousands of wives and children of Islamic State's foreign fighters are currently held in camps in northern Syria.

Thousands of wives and children of Islamic State's foreign fighters are currently held in camps in northern Syria.  The camps are said to be crowded and dangerious, and as the security situation in the camps deteriorates, the Kurdish authorities are warning of 'a disaster we will not be able to deal with'. The Kurdish authorities say that childen in the camps are being trained in IS idealogy, and in an attempt to contain this, adolescent boys are taken from their mothers and siblings and placed in secure detention centres.

They are urging the home countries to allow their citizens back. Some countries, such as Sweden, Germany and Belgium have brought back their citizens, the UK and France have repatriated some children - but many thousands remain.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ reporter Poonam Taneja travelled to two camps in the north of Syria to meet some of the families and the Kurds struggling to control them. She heard from one mother, who feared her son would be taken away. "Every day he gets older, every day that goes by, I think, one day, they might come and take him."

Photo: Women and a child in the al-Hol camp in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh governorate August 2021 Credit: Getty Images

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4 minutes