5 h. ago Forgotten by the west, Syria’s IS prisons are under threat as militant group mobilises

Kurdish officials warn that Islamic State threat is greater than ever in the vacuum left from Syrian regime’s collapseWith each gust of wind came a wave of body odour, the stench of two-dozen men wafting through the small hatch of the prison cell’s heavy iron door. Inside, gaunt prisoners clad in brown jumpsuits sat on thin gray mattresses.Six years have passed since the end of the so-called caliphate of the Islamic State, but to the 4,500 men held inside Panorama prison in north-east Syria, little has changed since their initial capture. Continue reading...

Events

44 h. ago Australia should repatriate and investigate alleged crimes of Islamic state member found in Syria, experts say

Exclusive: Home Affairs tells the Guardian consular assistance is ‘severely limited’ in Syria, where Mustafa Hajj-Obeid remains in custodyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Australian government should repatriate, monitor and investigate any crimes committed by a member of Islamic State who was wounded in the extremist group’s final battle, according to multiple security and international law experts.Last week, the Guardian revealed an Australian man whose fate was not publicly known was alive and in custody in a prison in north-eastern Syria, run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Missing Australian member of Islamic State found alive in Syrian prison

Exclusive: Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, who left Australia in 2015, is being held in Panorama prison, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the SDFAn Australian member of Islamic State who was wounded in the extremist group’s final battle and whose fate was not publicly known has been discovered alive and in custody in a prison in north-eastern Syria.Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, 41, who is one of a cohort of accused IS members whose Australian citizenship was stripped and then restored in 2022 after a legal challenge, has been reported as missing for the past six years since the military defeat of IS. Continue reading...

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3 d. ago UK ‘massively vulnerable’ to threat of Russia after decades of military cuts, ex

With Sir Keir Starmer under mounting pressure to boost the UK’s defence budget, General Sir Nick Carter said the UK’s ‘remarkably hollow’ Army would be unable to fend off Russia if it needed

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4 d. ago Trump is jailing 178 Venezuelans in Guantanamo — and none have a right to lawyers, Justice Department says

Nearly one-third of immigrants detained at the military prison are ‘lower-threat,’ but the Trump administration says they don’t have a ‘statutory right to counsel’

Politics

8 d. ago Inside the human slaughterhouse: I visited the hellhole jail where 13,000 Syrians were tortured to death, and met one prisoner who survived daily beatings for TEN years, writes DAVID PATRIKARAKOS

Pain floods his body. It spits and crackles like electricity. Every day for three months, the guards have hung him by his arms from the ceiling.

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