Britain in recent years has quietly repatriated six "ISIS brides" and nine children from the Al-Roj refugee camp in northern Syria, the Times reported, citing Rasheed Afrin, a director of the camp.
An "ISIS bride" is a term used to refer to a typically Western woman who travels to the Middle East to marry a member of the terrorist group.
Reports of the returns - which have not been addressed by government officials - came amid turmoil over control of detention sites as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus battle for territory and custody arrangements.
Almost 30 women and children who hold or once held British passports reportedly remain at Al-Roj, which is under the control of the SDF.
A British woman interviewed from inside the camp recently told CNN she had been that after denouncing ISIS, she had been rendered stateless and feared for her child’s safety because of it.
“I was born in England. I was raised in England,” the anonymous woman told CNN.
“I don’t have anyone anywhere else. My mum, my dad, my brothers – all are in England. We are utterly and totally stateless.”
Shamima Begum case continues in European court
In 2015, Shamima Begum, 26, from London’s Bethnal Green, traveled to Syria as a teenager and married an ISIS fighter, leading to the UK Home Office stripping her citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds.
Begum is currently still in the Al-Roj camp.
In December, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed it had "communicated" her complaint to the UK government, an important step in initiating proceedings.
Last year, then-foreign secretary David Lammy said that despite US pressure, Begukm would not be eligible for repatriation.
“Shamima Begum will not be coming back to the UK. It’s gone right through the courts. She’s not a UK national,” he said.
“We will act in our security interests. And many of those in those camps are dangerous, are radicals.”
Lammy had stated that ISIS-linked citizens who returned to the UK would be “jailed as soon as they arrived.”