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Horrific videos from Syria are showing soldiers mutilating and beheading bodies of captives as fears grow ISIS could be reborn. The Middle Eastern nation has been gripped by intense fighting in recent weeks as the new interim government in Damascus has launched an offensive against the mostly Kurdish-controlled north east of the country.
The Kurdish Syrian Defence Force (SDF) has largely administered north east Syria, known as Rojava, for the past 10 years after Kurds fought alongside British and American forces to defeat ISIS in the region. But since former al-Qaeda member President al-Sharaa seized power in Damascus in December 2024 his regime has been seeking to control the SDF-run territory.
The area has been vital for the West as thousands of dangerous ISIS prisoners captured after the war in 2019 remain captive in prisons guarded by the SDF. But last week, after a lightning offensive from Damascus forces, two of the largest detention camps fell into government control. At al-Hol camp, just 90 miles from where former ISIS bride Shamima Begum is held, jubilant scenes were recorded as inmates shouted allahu akbar, Arabic for 'God is greatest', as government forces took over.
As reported by the Daily Express, it's feared some factions connected to al-Sharaa's regime still hold sympathies to the ISIS jihadist course and now new videos seen by this paper have shown atrocities favoured by the Islamic death cult appear to have been carried out on captured Kurdish prisoners.
In a chilling echo of the time ISIS ruled this part of the world, one video shows a female prisoner with her head partially severed being filmed as the militia fighters mock her and one man puts his boot on her head.
In another video a male captive is seen being machine-gunned to death (Image: Supplied )According to the SDF, the dead men and women seen in the footage had surrendered to the Damascus soldiers believing they would be treated humanely. A statement from the SDF said: "They trusted those who have no conscience, and surrendered themselves based on a pact, not knowing that they were facing a merciless brutality.
"The brutality of the perpetrators exceeded all limits, making this crime a blatant example of the heinous violation of humanity."
It added that the militias used knives to "mutilate the victims' bodies in a brutal manner".
In another shocking clip a man apparently captured by regime soldiers is beaten with rifle butts before he is forced to lay on the ground in a courtyard. Yelling slogans the militiamen then open fire on the man using machine guns and shoot him to death.
Kurdish women around the world have also been braiding their hair in a sign of solidarity after a militia fighter was seen showing off a braid he had cut from a Kurdish female captive. Women in Kurdish society are renowned soldiers serving in the YPJ, (Women's Protection Units). During the war against ISIS female Kurdish fighters were particularly feared by the jihadis as the Islamic extremists believed they would not go to heaven if killed by a woman.
A militia fighter shows off a braid of hair cut from a Kurdish woman (Image: Social media )The situation for civilians on the ground in north east Syria is becoming increasingly desperate with reports the city of Kobani in northern Syria close to the Turkish border has been completely cut-off by government forces. The settlement, which home to around 40,000 people, is said to have had the water and electricity supply severed and is now surrounded by troops affiliated to Damascus.
A series of ceasefires have been declared since the fighting broke out on January 6, but despite the announcements heavy fighting has continued between the SDF and government forces. Tonight (January 24) another ceasefire has just been declared.
America and Britain have come under heavy criticism from the Kurdish community for a lack of support during the fighting.
Ishak Milani, co-chair of Kurdish People’s Assembly in Britain, told the Daily Express: "Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer, the United States and Britain, have abandoned us to this new jihadist regime in Damascus.
"We have been guarding your extremists for you, we have been on the front line protecting you from the rise of radical Islam.
"Now the government in Damascus, supported by Turkey, and by the US and the UK, is attacking those prisons and freeing the Isis inmates, they are attacking Kurdish towns and cities and carrying out atrocities against civilian men, women and children.
"They are desecrating bodies of our fighters and carrying out beheadings. Does that remind you of anyone? Isis have returned."
Kurds marching in London protesting against the offensive in north eastern Syria (Image: Getty )Syria’s defense ministry announced on Saturday (January 24) that a ceasefire had been extended by another 15 days. The defense ministry said in a statement that the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Islamic State militants who had been held in prisons in northeastern Syria to detention centers in Iraq.
State TV said Syrian authorities said they had released 126 boys under the age of 18 who were held at the al-Aqtan prison near the northern city of Raqqa that was taken by government forces Friday. The teenagers were taken to the city of Raqqa where they were handed over to their families, the TV station said.
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The prison is also home to some of the 9,000 members of the Islamic State group who are held in northeastern Syria. Most of them remain held in jails run by the SDF. Government forces have so far taken control of two prisons while the rest are still run by the SDF.
Earlier this week, the US military said that some 7,000 IS detainees will be transferred to detention centers in neighboring Iraq.