Terror red alert as Syria chaos sparks warning ISIS is poised for a terrifying resurgence

Violent jihadists are already trying to fill the power “vacuum” in Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s regime was overthrown, it has emerged.

Military and spy chiefs are on red alert over fears ISIS and Al-Qaeda could regroup in Syria.

And instability could lead to battle-hardened Islamic State fighters escaping from prisons, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been warned.

President Biden Joe warned he is “clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to re-establish its capability to create a safe haven”.

The Islamist rebel group – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – which led the overthrowing of the al-Assad dictatorship, also had links to Al-Qaeda, prompting fears they could “create a radicalising and intolerant caliphate”.

Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove told the Daily Express: “Assad’s flight from power leaves a vacuum, and groups are already vying to fill it, including ISIS.

“Libya and Iraq were unable to escape the baleful effects of their dictators’ terrible legacies. Syria’s political fate hangs in the balance.

“HTS has a brief opportunity to demonstrate that Syria could follow a pluralist future. Its terrorist origins would suggest otherwise. However, HTS has liberated Syria from a vicious regime.

“The question is, does it now want to lead a Syria that is trying to unite its many disparate groups and interests? Or will it revert to its roots and create a radicalising and intolerant caliphate? We do not yet know the answer.”

Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said he is worried a resurgent ISIS could lead to more people being radicalised into committing atrocities or travelling to the Middle East.

And Lord West, a former security advisor to Gordon Brown, told the Daily Express the overthrowing of the Assad regime had brought “other groups back into play”.

Asked if security chiefs should be concerned about ISIS regaining a significant foothold in the Middle East, Lord West said: “That’s why the Americans bombed them.

“They are concerned that will be the case, that they will be able to look at it and see it as a country where they can group their forces and not be troubled.”

He added of ISIS: “They will feel insurgent now that they are not being suppressed by the Syrian Army.”

Coalition forces, including Britain and America, had “pinned back” the jihadists since the height of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014 when they controlled large proportions of territory in both countries.

The ISIS terrorists have also engaged with the Syrian Government and Russian forces.

But analysts are waiting to see whether the “vacuum” created by the toppling of al-Assad will make it harder to fight terrorism, allowing the extremists to regroup, build strength, spread and commit more atrocities.

And many within Whitehall are concerned the Syrian Democratic Forces – a Kurdish-led coalition backed by the US – in North East Syria could be dragged into skirmishes, potentially allowing the jailed jihadis to overrun the remaining SDF guards.

Former Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said: “If the camps are not guarded properly, then you could see a situation in which the camps just broke out and the guards were overrun and all of that concentration of Islamic State firepower disperses around the region.”

Former head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “For us, I think we need to be realistic. The reality, the one thing you know about Syria for sure, proven by history, is that attempts to impose change from the outside will not work.

“This is very much a Syrian future for Syrians to decide, and we should, of course, support anything that moves Syria towards a more positive state.

“But we also have some hard interests, and the primary one of those, as I have said before, is the existence of a very large number of ISIS detainees left over from the destruction of the caliphate, currently contained by the Kurdish groups in the east.

“But if they go off the job, you can expect a serious spike in the threat posed to Europe by ISIS.”

US forces on Sunday conducted dozens of airstrikes, striking more than 75 ISIS targets using Air Force assets, including B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets and A-10 aircraft.

General Erik Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM, said: “There should be no doubt — we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria.

“All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy branded Bashar al-Assad the “rat of Damascus” who fled to Moscow “with his tail between his legs”.

He told MPs the UK Government had chosen not to reengage with Syria under Mr Assad’s rule as the former president was a “monster”.

He told MPs: “We said no because Assad was a dictator whose sole interest was his wealth and his power. And we said no because Assad is a criminal who defied all laws and norms to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

“We said no because Assad is a butcher with the blood of countless innocents on his hands, and we said no because Assad was a drug dealer.”

Mr Lammy added the UK Government knew Mr Assad was “never, ever going to change”, telling MPs: “There were those who used to call Assad the lion of Damascus.

“Now we see the reality: Assad is the rat of Damascus, fleeing to Moscow with his tail between his legs. How fitting he should end up there.”

The MI5 Director General has previously revealed a resurgent ISIS and Al-Qaeda are once again plotting atrocities in the UK from abroad.

The domestic intelligence chief warned: “Organised groups have the numbers and the know-how to carry out, or inspire, horrendous mass casualty attacks.”

MI5 and counter-terrorism police have foiled 43 terror plots since 2017.

Britain’s top intelligence officer pointed to the ISKP – an Islamic State offshoot in Afghanistan – atrocities in Moscow, where 145 people were slaughtered, and the Kerman bombings in Iran, where 103 people were killed, as a “brutal demonstration of its capability”.

He said: “Today’s Islamic State is not the force it was a decade ago. But after a few years of being pinned well back, they’ve resumed efforts to export terrorism.

“The ISKP attack in Moscow was a brutal demonstration of its capability. We and many European partners are detecting IS-connected activity in our homelands, which we are moving early to disrupt.

“And Al-Qaeda has sought to capitalise on conflict in the Middle East, calling for violent action.

“To illustrate, over the last month, more than a third of our top priority investigations have had some form of connection, of varying strengths, to organised overseas terrorist groups.

“Organised groups have the numbers and the know-how to carry out, or inspire, horrendous mass casualty attacks.”

Source » express.co.uk