The Al-Hol camp is often portrayed in starkly contrasting ways: either as a breeding ground for dedicated extremists or as a refuge for manipulated wives who were merely following their husbands. These opposing perspectives often underpin the debate between those who oppose repatriation and those who advocate for it. In this article, NCF Research Officer Cristina De Leo goes beyond this dichotomy, arguing that ISIS women are simultaneously actively dedicated and unduly influenced. By exploring the intricate interplay of active devotion and manipulation among ISIS members, the author makes a case for Western governments to repatriate their citizens who joined ISIS and are now detained in Al-Hol. 

In March 2019, ISIS lost control of its last piece of territory in Syria, when Kurdish forces seized the town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, marking the defeat of the caliphate as a significant fighting force. Following the retreat of ISIS, displacement camps were set up across northeast Syria to house individuals who were associated with the group, including wives and children of ISIS fighters. The largest of these camps is Al-Hol, which is comprised by a majority of women and children, including foreign citizens who had left their home countries to join the group. Al-Hol is currently under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia backed by the United States that led the offensive against ISIS.

The repatriation issue: opposing perspectives on ISIS’s women

Over the years, Al-Hol has drawn international criticism for the refusal of many Western governments to repatriate their female citizens who left their countries to join ISIS and are now held in the camp. While some countries have initiated the repatriation process, most have done so slowly, and others refuse entirely, resulting in thousands of their citizens still being detained. Meanwhile, civil society organisations have been pressuring foreign governments to repatriate Al-Hol’s women, highlighting the dire humanitarian conditions they and their children are subjected to, including inadequate medical care, shelter and education facilities.

The opposing stances taken by governments and civil society organisations can broadly be seen as emblematic of two dichotomous understandings of women in ISIS. On one hand, the strict stance taken by many governments reflects the belief that women who join ISIS were once, or are currently, actively devoted to the movement, and, as such, constitute a security threat. This view is somewhat skeptical about those who claim to have been manipulated by the group and to no longer support it. The case of Shamima Begum – who left London at age 15 to join the Islamic State in Syria – is a case in point. The UK Supreme Court has recently upheld the decision to remove her British citizenship, with the judges claiming that, whilst she may have been influenced by others, she made a calculated decision to join ISIS in Syria. On the other hand, the case for repatriation advocated by many human rights organisations is often underpinned by the view that ISIS women are predominantly victims who were manipulated into following the group. The CEO of War Child, for example, highlights that not a single person in Al-Hol has been charged with a crime and that many girls were groomed and coerced to join ISIS. In other words, ISIS women are either seen as devoted extremists or manipulated victims.

ISIS women: dedicated agents or manipulated victims?

The discussion surrounding agency versus manipulation in terrorist recruitment is not new in terrorism studies, particularly concerning women joining extremist organisations. Whilst scholars tend to lead towards one side of this argument, the dynamics of terrorist recruitment are far from binary. Both views are partially correct, as terrorist radicalisation is a nuanced and intricate process, involving an interplay of agency and manipulation.

As for agency, it is first important to understand that women who join ISIS are just as committed to the group as men are. One reason why women are often perceived as passive victims is that they typically do not engage in violence, but take up domestic roles instead. Often labelled as ‘jihadi brides’ by the media, it is tempting to view ISIS women as mere followers to their husbands’ involvement, rather than independent actors with agency and commitment to the group’s cause. Yet, in their role as wives and mothers, women are participating in jihad in the ways they are instructed to by the ideology they have embraced. According to the jihadist ideology, participation in violence is predominantly a male domain. Whilst men are tasked with waging jihad, women are typically assigned domestic roles, focusing on raising their children in strict accordance with jihadist beliefs. As such, when ISIS women take up marriage, they are not doing so merely to become wives, but to fulfil a religious duty. Whilst not involved in the violent aspect of jihad themselves, they remain dedicated to its cause, including its violent outcomes. For example, former wife of ISIS fighter Shamima Begum never engaged in violence, but once stated that she was unfazed when seeing her first severed head because it was of an enemy of Islam. The discrepancy in involvement in violence between ISIS men and women is essentially a technicality and does not signify a difference in dedication to the group’s objectives.

Another reason why women’s commitment to ISIS is often questioned is the fact that Islamist groups adopt patriarchal and misogynistic practices, yet are successful in recruiting women. To explain this apparent contradiction, a common view is that women are sold misleading, fairy-tale depictions of jihadi marriages. However, ISIS propaganda rarely sugar-coats the reality of women’s role in the caliphate, making explicit reference to the hardships to be expected by wives and mothers: ‘O my sister, who deluded you that and told you that the life of jihad is one of comfort and ease?’, is stated in ISIS’s magazine Dabiq, issue 11. The sacrifices required by women are equated with the strength of their faith. Indeed, some women even embrace the dire conditions they are subjected to in the Al-Hol camp, interpreting them as a divine test for the caliphate.

However, whilst both women and men are dedicated actors, they are also subjected to a significant degree of manipulation. An insightful framework for understanding how agency and manipulation can coexist is the concept of ‘the third dimension of power’ developed by political theorist Steven Lukes. According to Lukes, power comes in three dimensions. The first is the ability to coerce people to do what they don’t want to do. The second is the ability to prevent people from doing what they want to do. The third is the ability to shape what people think. While the first two dimensions of power are clearly visible, the third is hidden. It operates subtly, by getting people to willingly comply by shaping their views, beliefs and preferences. When people are subjected to the third dimension of power, they indeed choose to commit themselves to a certain agenda, but that choice has been developed through a manipulation process that has shaped their views and decision-making.

Power dynamics within ISIS recruitment: Shaping mindsets, ensuring commitment

Lukes’ third dimension of power is evident in the recruitment strategies of ISIS. There are many ways in which this can be seen, but I will focus on three primary manipulation techniques of environmental and emotional control: isolation, information control and the inculcation of fear.

Controlling the environment of the recruit is a fundamental element in terrorist recruitment strategies. This is mainly achieved through isolation, which is commonly considered as one of the key signs of radicalisation. Extremist recruiters encourage recruits to cut off relationships from the outside world, whilst promoting a complete immersion in the group. They typically isolate individuals through the inculcation of phobias. ISIS does so by instilling the phobia that surrounding society is a dangerous and corrupting force that seeks to divert individuals from following Islam. Isolation is a powerful manipulation technique because it gives the terrorist group the power to dictate and shape the values and ideas of the recruit without external influence. The group’s exclusive influence over the individual reinforces its narrative and enables a resocialisation process whereby recruits can easily internalise its morals, values and ideas. Not only does ISIS isolate recruits from outsiders who could lead them to question their thinking, but it also suppresses doubt internally by not allowing its ideology to be questioned among its members. Even within the detention camps in Syria this dynamic is evident, as exemplified by an American woman detained in the Roj camp who explains the need to be careful about criticizing ISIS within the camp due to fear of reprisal by ISIS supporters.

Information control is another technique used by ISIS to control the environment of its members and secure their allegiance by shaping their preferences. In order to make informed decisions, people need to integrate conflicting and diverse sources of information. But information does not circulate freely among ISIS recruits, as the group carefully selects the information reaching them with the aim of monopolising the information at their disposal. Once again, ISIS is able to do this by instilling paranoia regarding the outside world, warning recruits to distrust external sources as they are part of a global conspiracy to undermine Islam. Begum, for example, stated that her recruiters told her not to believe mainstream media regarding ISIS as it was part of the ‘War on Islam’. Exploiting the need that many individuals vulnerable to extremism have for unambiguous answers, ISIS provides recruits with a narrow ideological framework for understanding the world. Controlling information empowers ISIS to frame narratives and events, and consequently shape the preferences of its recruits in alignment with its objectives. The desire of ISIS members for a global caliphate, for example, needs to be considered in the context of the controlled environment in which it is developed. ISIS propaganda provides a pessimistic narrative of the modern world, pointing to the ills of society embodied in Western imperialism or in corrupt, ‘apostate’ regimes in the Middle East. It attributes these ills to the inferiority of manmade governments and presents its group as superior due to its divine nature, offering its ideology as the solution to create a perfect Islamic government. The exclusive exposure to this black and white worldview can constrain the capacity of recruits to envision alternative ways of organising society beyond a global Islamic caliphate. With limited access to alternative narratives, they come to see the world as ‘all bad’ and irredeemable, and, consequently, any deviation from ISIS’s vision as destined for failure.

Emotional control is perhaps the most powerful strategy extremist groups use to obtain commitment among their members. In ISIS, this is mainly achieved through the inculcation of apocalyptic fear. ISIS has a fixation with the end of the world. The idea of an impending apocalypse, with world events rapidly converging toward a final battle between jihadists and infidels, constitutes a core part of its recruitment pitch. By inculcating the fixation of an upcoming apocalypse, ISIS instils fear within its recruits, which can influence their decision to align with the group. It is true that many recruits have a genuine attraction of their own to the idea of a cleansing apocalypse that rids the world of impurity and gives rise to a pure, Islamic utopia. But it is also true that by indoctrinating individuals with the belief of an imminent, violent showdown between the forces of good and evil, ISIS deforms their choices. Indeed, it is easy to see how the prospect of facing a violent death or divine punishment for not joining the right side of the battle may leave little choice but to commit the group’s cause.

By understanding the conditions under which commitment to ISIS is developed, it becomes clear that ISIS exercises the third dimension of power over its recruits to shape their beliefs. ISIS women and men do actively embrace the jihadist ideology, but they do so in a context of isolation, information control and fearmongering that diminishes their capacity for rational and critical judgment. The third dimension of power exercised by ISIS leads recruits to embrace radical and simplistic beliefs by playing on their isolation, fears and limited information to engage in flawed reasoning.

Addressing the repatriation dilemma

The interplay of agency and manipulation among ISIS members enables to draw two conclusions regarding Western women affiliated with ISIS held in Al-Hol.

The first is that concerns of governments that these women constitute a security threat are founded and legitimate. Women are committed actors and their potential for involvement – albeit not direct – in terrorist attacks in their home countries should not be underestimated. However, abandoning ISIS women in squalid detention camps in Syria is hardly the solution. Governments are responsible for their citizens and should not shift the burden of managing radicalised individuals onto another country, especially one enduring the repercussions of a long-running war and with an increasingly volatile security landscape due to the regional fallout stemming from the war in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. While Western judicial systems may face challenges in prosecuting women who have not technically committed any crime, surveillance systems can be put in place to monitor their activity. Leaving these individuals in detention camps in Syria, left unchecked to raise children who have no exposure to alternative realities to be the next generation of ISIS fighters, sets the stage for an even greater security threat.

The second conclusion that can be drawn is that remorse expressed by some women in Al-Hol and their assertion of having been manipulated into joining should not be dismissed. ISIS employs a sophisticated array of manipulation tactics to radicalise its members. This does not absolve these individuals of responsibility, but it does indicate that their involvement was, to some extent, developed through deceptive means. These women should also be repatriated and brought to trial. Through the use of tailored de-radicalisation programs, they can effectively abandon all remnants of extremist views and be reintegrated back into society.