IS terrorists at risk of escape after Trump cuts foreign aid
Islamic State terrorists could escape from camps and prisons in north-east Syria as a result of Donald Trump’s sweeping and unexpected cuts to foreign aid, officials and analysts have warned.
US funding was abruptly halted for several days, leading to reports that camp guards had not turned up to work, which added to fears of a mass breakout.
The president signed an executive order on Friday for a blanket 90-day moratorium in foreign development assistance pending a review.
Security and administration around al-Hol and al-Roj, the two main detention facilities, was withdrawn and humanitarian work halted, according to aid workers inside.
An 11th-hour intervention by the US state department on Monday night temporarily reinstated the funding for the camp guards, but only for two weeks. It is still unclear what happens after the funding stopgap expires.
It has raised significant concerns for the long-term security of detention facilities, which hold what Western counter-terrorism officials described as a potential terror army in waiting.
The UK Foreign Office is concerned that the funding cuts could lead to militants breaking free, according to an internal memo seen by The Times.
More than 9,000 battle-hardened terrorists and 40,000 women and children associated with IS – including 20 British men, 20 British women and 35 children – are guarded by US-backed mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces in makeshift prisons.
Officials have warned of an IS resurgence, particularly in the wake of the Assad regime’s downfall and the security vacuum it created.
Richard Barrett, the former MI6 counter-terrorism director, told the UK foreign affairs select committee this week that a 2,000-strong group of IS fighters saw an opportunity to begin a “Breaking the Walls” campaign to attack the camps.
He questioned whether Mr Trump, who is aggressively pursuing isolationist policies, will continue to fund security around the camps or retain the 2,000 US forces stationed in north-east Syria.
Charles Lister, the director of the countering terrorism and extremism programme at the Middle East Institute, raised alarm bells on Monday about the threat of the security around the camps.
“Trump’s global aid freeze has cut the salaries paid to many of the prison and camp guards … Many are no longer turning up for work,” he wrote on X.
“The threat posed by a mass breakout cannot be understated,” Mr Lister said, calling it the “consequence of brash, ill-thought out actions [by the Trump administration] intended for headlines, not policy”.
His views were echoed by a US state department official, who told Politico: “We narrowly escaped disaster and it just shows this team has no idea what they’re doing.”
Chris Murphy, the Democrat senator for Connecticut, called the events a “crisis created by Trump that never needed to exist”.
Democrats inside the House foreign affairs committee said in a statement that it was a clear example that Mr Trump’s aid freeze is “already endangering our security and that of our allies and partners”.
The Foreign Office has been approached for comment.
Source » telegraph.co.uk
