An American and a Canadian are among the group of medical students who have crossed into parts of Syria under the control of Islamic State and are believed to be working in hospitals there.

Mohammad Maleeh is a US passport holder, and Ismail Hamdoun is Canadian. Maleeh had not previously been named, while Hamdoun had earlier been identified as British by a local politician trying to help the group’s parents persuade their children to come home.



The parents, who asked not to be named, confirmed that there were 11 medical students and recent graduates in the group. In addition to the North Americans there are seven British citizens, including a brother and sister, and two Sudanese citizens.



They insisted that the group did not plan to fight, and had no links to Isis. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said their children only had humanitarian motives.



One parent told the Guardian: “We haven’t found any connection with Isis or other groups. They went to help for medical purposes, not to join Isis. There is no link whatsoever between these children and ‘Daesh’, they have good intentions and came to give medical help.”



Mehmet Ali Ediboglu, a Turkish opposition politician helping with the search, had previously said the group were probably in Isis-held areas, and one of the parents told a Turkish newspaper that he feared his daughter had come to seek out jihadi groups. However, the parents now reject this.



The Home Office said even if they were in areas under Isis control, the medics would not automatically face prosecution under anti-terror laws if they tried to return to the UK, as long as they could prove they had not been fighting.



Whether they travelled to territory held by Isis or other rebels, the journey made by the American and Canadian doctors is relatively rare.



Although thousands of foreigners have flocked to join Isis and other groups fighting against the government of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, the vast majority are thought to have come from the region and Europe.



The US estimated late last year that only around 20 or 30 Americans were fighting in Syria, although three times as many had tried to make the journey, and perhaps 12 were fighting with Isis.

A Facebook page for a man of the same name as Maleeh who recently graduated from Khartoum’s medical school lists his hometown as Denver, Colorado.



His profile picture shows a man in a purple shirt, peering down the sight of an air rifle, with the caption “SHOT”.



Hamdoun, who is one of the oldest in the group at around 30, went to high school and college in Toronto before travelling to Khartoum for medical school, which he finished last year.



The group are still sending their parents regular messages using WhatsApp to say that they OK, but have not revealed where they are. Some of the parents are even hopeful they are still in Syria.



One of the parents, speaking from a city near the border where they have based their search, said: “We don’t know if they crossed into Syria, no one confirmed, even the Turkish government.”



However, the group would be extremely conspicuous at any of the hospitals or clinics along the closely-watched frontier, and one woman told her family she was crossing into Syria shortly before she disappeared.



It is possible that the group have travelled to areas held by other groups fighting the Assad regime. There are currently thought to be seven main illegal crossing points, according to sources who have been following the war and routes into Syria closely.



Three lead to Isis-controlled areas, another three to parts of Syria controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra, which has links to al-Qaida, and the Free Syrian Army, and one to Kurdish-controlled areas.



The medics are extremely unlikely to have travelled to the Kurdish areas, because they are mostly run by leftwing groups that have little appeal to recruits driven by religious motives, and have not attempted to conceal the arrival of foreigners signing up to join them.



The parents said that their children had all been “recognised for their excellent academic achievements, social and moral capabilities,” were not religious extremists and had shown no interest in jihad or war.



They had been studying in Sudan only because it was easier to get into medical school there, said the parents, who are mostly doctors themselves.



“We didn’t send them there to reconnect with their culture, but because the level of medicine education and training in Sudan is very good, and we wanted them to have the best education,” they said. “They were not accepted in the UK due to the high competition.”



The families added that they had met at medical school in Khartoum before moving abroad in the 1980s, but their children only got to know each other in the city.



The relatives blamed the Turkish and British authorities for not doing more to help recover their children. One parent said: “The problem could have been solved within hours, but it’s been 10 days now.



“They are all very friendly to us but haven’t shared any information about the children. It is distressing and we feel helpless.”

