ISIS bride Shamima Begum is reportedly awaiting an opportunity to escape a jihadi camp as Syrian government troops advance into areas filled with tent communities. The former British schoolgirl, stripped of her citizenship, was seen moving around stalls in a Covid-style mask at the Al-Roj detention camp, where she is detained along with about 2,000 women and children.

She is among 15 British or dual-national women still present at the camp as Syrian forces enter Kurdish-controlled territories. While U.S. forces are evacuating around 7,000 male detainees to Iraq, there has been no recent communication regarding the fate of the large female camp.

Speculations suggest that Begum and other women are eyeing the ongoing offensive as a chance to flee the camp managed by Hekemiya Ibrahim, who indicated that some detainees seem prepared to leave based on their packed bags and secretive behavior.

Women at the camp possess illicit phones to communicate with ISIS sympathizers worldwide, with many hoping for a resurgence of the extremist movement after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in 2024. Despite fears of repercussions from the Syrian government’s enmity with ISIS, some detainees express regret and a willingness to face consequences for their actions.

The camp also houses radicalized women, with Umm Hamza, an Egyptian ex-wife of an ISIS fighter, highlighting the presence of dangerous individuals willing to resort to violence against those they deem infidels within the camp’s confines.