Ten British women - including two teens - are fighting jihad in Syria after joining a group so violent even al-Qaeda has disowned them

Jihadists are two teenagers from Portsmouth, a Surrey woman, two Londoners and five from the north

Six hundred Britons have fought in Syria in the past three years

UK and USA stopped financing Free Syrian Army because of links between terror group and President al-Assad

Ten British women are fighting in the civil war raging in Syria.

The women are thought to have joined their husbands in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), a hard-line Muslim faction so extreme it has been disowned by al-Qaeda.

Among the jihadists are two teenagers from Portsmouth, a Surrey woman, two Londoners and five from the north of England.

Ten British women are thought to have travelled to Syria to engage in jihad, probably alongside their husbands, in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), a hard-line Muslim faction so extreme it has been disowned by al-Qaeda (File picture)

However, rather than helping the fight against President Bashar al-Assad they may actually be unwittingly helping him.

Shiraz Maher, an expert on the area from Kings College London told the Daily Mirror: ‘Most British jihadists go to Syria for sincere reasons to help in what they believe is a struggle against oppression but many don't appreciate the reality on the ground.

‘There are around 10 British women out there, we believe, and most have travelled to Syria with their husbands.

Smoke rises after what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in the Al-Maysar neighbourhood of Aleppo

‘They go believing they will fight jihad to overthrow Assad but may actually be getting in the way of the rebellion by joining groups and fuelling the infighting they are involved in.

SYRIA UNDER ASSAD

Bashar Hafez al-Assad has been president of Syria since July 2000 when he succeeded his father Hafez, who led Syria for 30 years until his death. President al-Assad, 48, has a degree in medicine and studied at at the Western Eye Hospital, in London. He became heir apparent when his elder brother Bassel was killed aged 31 in a car crash on January 21, 1994. Human Rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have claimed that President al-Assads’s government and secret police routinely tortured, imprisoned, and killed political opponents, and those who speak out against the government. President al-Assad is a member of the minority Alawite sect and his government has been described as secular.

‘Depending on who they sign up with, like Isis, they will end up fighting some of the original rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army. There is evidence that in the complex struggles ISIS in particular has been infiltrated by Assad’s forces.’

It is believed that almost 600 Britons have fought in Syria since the hostilities began three years ago and 20 are thought to have died. Abdulla Deghayes, 18, from Saltdean near Brighton in East Sussex, is the latest to be killed – he is believed to have died in Kassab, Latakia, earlier this month.

Deghayes has two brothers, Jaffar, 16, and 20-year-old Amer, still in the country where they fought with al-Qaeda terror group Jabhat al-Nusrah.

British police yesterday asked Muslim parents to inform them if they believe their children are likely to become jihadists. Around 40 this year have been stopped leaving the UK to go to Syria.

Colonel Fateh Hassoun of the Free Syria Army (FSA) claimed that there are links between Isis and President Assad and that Isis is winning because it is financed by £700,000 a day in stolen Syrian oil cash.

Abdullah Deghayes, 18, from Brighton, who has died in Syria, pictured with a female friend

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (in rain-soaked jacket) visited the predominanetly Christian city of Maaloula, to celebrate Easter

Soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad hold a Syrian national flag with a picture of Assad, as they pass Mar Bacchus Sarkis monastery, at Maloula village, northeast of Damascus, after taking control of the village from rebel fighters

Hassoun said that Britain and America has stopped funding his organisation because of the clash between the FSA and Jabhat al-Nusrah and Isis.

‘We had the momentum but trouble with extremist groups meant the West stopped paying the money and this other group is gaining power,’ he said.

‘Astonishingly we have intelligence that even President Assad is doing deals secretly with Isis, just to put even more pressure on us. We have been badly weakened by western inaction and we need help. We are even losing fighters to this rival group.’

The West paid the FSA £2million a month and in turn it paid its 45,000 troops £30-a-month. In contrast Isis pays its soldiers £300-a-month.

Isis is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdad and many of his commanders served under Saddam Hussein.