Isis brides reveal reality of married life

In this undated file photo from the summer of 2014, militants of the Islamic State drive in convoy in Raqqa, Syria. Photo / AP

Isis brides have revealed the reality of being a wife in the caliphate, describing jihadi speed-dating, women fighting in dormitories and religious fanatics who are "only interested in sex".

Ex-wives and widows of extremists told how they paid smugglers to help them flee from once the terror group started to lose territory in Iraq and Syria.

Dozens of runaway brides are reportedly now being held in a jail with their children at a refugee camp 30 miles north of the Isis "capital" Raqqa, in Syria. They have since described their bizarre lives as partners of Isis fanatics.

According to CNN, one woman called Saida, who had fled to join Isis from Montpellier in France, said she was desperate to return to return to Europe with her 14-month-old son.

She said she was lured to Syria with the promise of a new life with a devout husband.

But instead, she and others like her found all-female dormitories where women would fight among themselves and extremists who were obsessed with sex.

The French national said women would take part in rounds of speed dating where they would be selected as wives.

She told CNN women would write a "sort of CV" for the Tinder-like system.

"She puts down her age, her name, what her personality is like, and what she looks for in a man. And men also post their CVs," she said.

"So you meet, you talk for 15-20 minutes, and then it's a yes or no. If they both agree then they get married. It's very quick."

Eventually, she paid £4,600 ($8000) to smugglers to help her flee from the city, only for her husband Yassine to die during the escape bid.

Having fled, she now dreams of her old life in France and admitted she "loved jeans and make up".

UK teens Amira Abase, 15, Shamima Begum, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, fled to Syria in February 2015 to become Isis brides. Kadiza was killed in an airstrike in 2016. (Metropolitan Police)

Others have told of a woman who married and was divorced at least six times before a jihadi court threatened to whip her.

Three Indonesian sisters Rahma, Fina, and Noor, who did not end up marrying jihadists, said they saw fighting in all-female accommodation.

They had paid large amounts to travel to the Isis-held city in the hope of marrying men who were "pure Muslims" and taking advantage of free healthcare and education.

But Rahma said of the male extremists they met: "They say they want to jihad for the sake of Allah, but what they want is only about women and sex. It's disgusting."

Another Isis wife, named as May, said she was only passing through Raqqa when she met her husband - a Moroccan militant called Bilal who she described as a pacifist who did not want to take up arms.

Social media was used to recruit Isis brides from the west, with many travelling to Syria to be married off to fighters. Photo / Facebook

The Syrian English teacher, from Homs, was already a widow after her first husband was shot by a sniper.

But she said her new husband has ended up in jail in the town of Kobani - and is fearful she will not see him again.

She said: "I want someone to kill me. Because I can't kill myself, because this is suicide."

She added that other women in Raqqa had been left shocked after being divorced by foreign Isis fighters only "three to four days or one month" after marrying.

Fresh details of life under Isis rule come as it emerged that US-backed Syrian fighters have clashed with the militants in the heart of Raqqa.

Scores of civilians have since fled areas controlled by the group in the extremists' self-styled capital.

An undated frame grab from video posted online on May 29, 2017, shows people inspecting damage from airstrikes in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Isis. Photo / AP

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), aided by the US-led coalition, launched their offensive to capture the city on June 6, and have since taken several areas.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting is concentrated in the south-western neighbourhood of Yarmouk and the Old City.

The SDF said intense fighting is under way in central Raqqa, adding that its fighters have taken positions near a centuries-old mosque.

The Kurdish-run Hawar news agency said some 180 civilians were able to flee areas controlled by Isis while the Observatory put the number in the hundreds.