IS bride Shamima Begum gives birth to baby boy as Donald Trump demands UK 'take back' captured fighters
IS bride schoolgirl Shamima Begum has given birth to a baby boy in Syria - as debate rages over Britain's responsibility to take in captured jihadi fighters and their supporters.
The lawyer for the 19-year-old runaway's family, Mohammed T Akunjee, announced they had been informed of the birth on Sunday, before confirming the baby's sex.
The statement hours after US president Donald Trump demanded Britain and other European allies "take back" more than 800 Islamic State fighters captured in Syria.
US-based forces are continuing to close in on the remaining IS fighters, who are holed up - apparently with hostages - in a village measuring less than a square mile in eastern Syria.
Why does Donald Trump think Britain should take back IS fighters?
Mr Trump warned the IS fighters could “permeate Europe” and called on Britain, France and Germany to “step up” and put the prisoners on trial in their countries.
He issued two tweets declaring the "Caliphate is ready to fall", hours after Vice President Mike Pence claimed the group was "decimated" in Syria.
What has the government said about the Shamima Begum case?
The comments from Mr Trump come after ministerial differences of opinion relating to the repatriation of foreign fighters and their relations to the UK – provoked by the case of 19-year-old Begum.
Ms Begum ran away to IS-controlled Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl but now wants to return to the UK to bring up her newborn son, who was born in a Syria refugee camp.
Her family told ITV News they want the Government to step in and bring the London-raised IS schoolgirl back to the UK as a "matter of urgency".
Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned on Friday he “will not hesitate” to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS.
But, a day later, Justice Secretary David Gauke told ITV News the government can only "act within our powers" and would assess each returnee on a "case-by-case basis".
What has Begum said about her bid to raise her baby in the UK?
Ms Begum, who told The Times she did not regret travelling to IS-controlled Syria, said she understood she could face a police investigation if she manages to return to the UK.
Speaking days before giving birth, the teenager said she feared her baby will be taken away from her if she returns.
She asked The Times: "What do you think will happen to my child?
"Because I don’t want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family."
Following the birth, the teen mother told Sky News on Sunday she could not see "any reason" why he son would be taken away from her if she makes it back to the UK.
She also said "a lot of people should have sympathy" for her situation adding the UK government and authorities had no evidence of her "doing anything dangerous" in Syria.
How close is the end of the IS 'caliphate'?
IS fighters are contained to an area of 700 square metres in eastern Syria, with Ciya Furat, a commander with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), telling reporters on Saturday: "We will very soon bring good news to the whole world."
On Sunday the SDF spokesperson Mustafa Bali said the remaining IS militants are preventing more than 1,000 civilians leaving the village of Baghouz.
SDF officials have said the extremists are hiding among civilians in the tented village and using a network of caves and tunnels.
"Regrettably, Daesh have closed all the roads," Mr Bali said, eferring to IS by its Arabic acronym.
The capture of the last pocket still held by IS fighters in Baghouz would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to stop the extremist group’s hold on territory in Syria and Iraq — their so-called “caliphate” that at the height of the group’s power in 2014 controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.
However, the end of the terror group’s territorial control would not mean an end to the group, with Mr Furat saying the SDF would continue the fight against sleeper cells.