How Shamima Begum camps are breeding next twisted generation of ISIS as kids make ‘cutthroat’ gesture & hurl firebombs
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A CHILD no older than eight draws his hand across his neck in a chilling throat-slitting gesture - the message is clear, "You are not welcome here". Other kids hurl stones, shout and scream - while one exasperated camp official shows us CCTV of two youngsters hurling a firebomb.
![[Man seen through chain-link fence, making a gesture.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/hgfdshgifjihgfdjhgf.jpg?strip=all&w=285)
Welcome to camps al-Hol and al-Roj in northern Syria - the fates of which remain uncertain after the fall of tyrant Bashar al-Assad. It is warned these stark detention centres are now the breeding ground for the next generation of the bloodthirsty cult.
![[Explosion near people at night.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ghfdhdfdjff.jpg?strip=all&w=813)
And much of this new wave of radicalisation is feared to be coming from the mothers inside the camps. Senior camp official Rashid Omer said: "The reality is - they are not changing. This is not a normal camp - this a bomb.". He went on: "They are saying it was ISIS who 'liberated' Damascus - and soon they will be coming here.".
![[People in niqabs and abayas walking in a market.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241222_121123.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"And then they want to spread to Europe, to Africa, and then to everywhere.". The two sprawling sites hold a total of nearly 60,000 including ISIS fighters, families and children. At least 6,000 Westerners are still held among them - including infamous jihadi bride Shamima Begum, the 25-year-old from London.
![[Children near a fence carrying bags of food.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/dfef3e74-431c-4eeb-a2e4-ef2f7fad7c9d.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Extremism is warned to be fomenting again – including the return of disturbing practices such as child marriages. There is a generation being raised who have known nothing beyond the twisted rule and warped education of ISIS. Our exclusive video shows the camps beneath the clear and cold Syrian skies in late December.
![[Aerial map of a town with numbered locations.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241222_115302.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
