Hundreds of IS supporters escape from Syrian camp which holds IS bride Lisa Smith
ISIS families have fled a camp in northern housing ISIS bride Lisa Smith and the family of naturalised citizen Alexandr Bekmirazev.
Smith who was last seen in the camp two weeks ago could be among the ISIS families who escaped the camp after fighters from the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) left their positions following a Turkish attack on the camp.
Syrian Kurdish officials say more than 700 supporters of so-called Islamic State have escaped from the camp for displaced people in north-eastern Syria.
The Kurdish-led administration said detainees attacked Ain Eissa camp’s gates and fled today amid intense fighting nearby and Turkish airstrikes.
The camp is home to some 12,000 people, including nearly 1,000 foreign women with links to IS and their children.
Smith was housed in a restricted area of the camp with her three-year-old daughter Rakaya.
The former airman shared a tent with the wife of imprisoned jihadist Alexander Bekmirazev and their son Abdul Malik who was born in Ireland.
Smith appealed several times for repatriation but Kurdish officials in the defacto region said the Irish government had failed to contact them about any Irish citizens.
Last March, Taoiseach Leo Varadkhar stated that Smith and her daughter would be repatriated but months later they remained in Syria with no further action from the government.
Earlier this week a Turkish offensive inside Syria further destabilized the region moving fighters from the SDF to the Turkish border to repel the offensive.
Kurds warned that Turkey’s months long-planned military offensive would likely lead to the chaos in ISIS prisons and camps.
A series of incidents in the prisons in recent days have challenged the security holding foreign ISIS jihadists.
The camp is just outside Turkey's 30km “safe zone” which they claim will prevent attacks into Turkey from the SDF.
The “Annex” holding foreign ISIS women including Smith has been emptied. ISIS supporters using the encrypted app Telegram are advising foreign women of smugglers who can help them through the now porous border back into Turkey.
Smith who petitioned several times to return to Ireland was never questioned by Irish security services but may have vital information on ISIS activity in Ireland.
The town of Ain Eissa, some 20 miles south of the border, is also home to one of the largest US-led coalition bases in north-eastern Syria.
The Kurdish forces, who partnered with the US in the fight against IS, say they may not be able to maintain detention facilities holding thousands of militants as they struggle to stem the Turkish advance.
