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Operation Jihadi Bride: The Covert Mission to Rescue Young Women from ISIS

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A thrilling and highly newsworthy military adventure in the burning rubble of Islamic State.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545; min-height: 14.0px} Would you turn your back on a teenage Jihadi bride and her innocent children?

'Jihad isn't a war. It's an objective. An aberration. If there are young women with children, lost boys... If they are trapped in that hell and we can get them out, don't we have a duty to do so? Every person we can bring back is living proof that Islamic State is a failure.'

Ex-British Army Soldier, John Carney, ran a close protection operation in Iraq for oil executives when he was asked by the family of a young Dutch woman to extract her from the collapsing Islamic State in Syria. Hearing first-hand of the shocking living hell of tricked naive young girls, many from the West, trapped, sexually abused and enslaved by ISIS, he knew only one thing - he had to get them out.

Armed with AK-47s and 9mm Glocks, he launched a daring, dangerous and deadly operation to free as many as he could. With a small band of committed Kurdish freedom fighters, backed by humanitarian NGOs, and feeding intel to MI6, Carney and his men went behind enemy lines in the heart of the Syrian lead storm, risking their lives to deliver the women and their children to the authorities, to de-radicalisation programmes and fair trials.

Gripping, shocking and thought-provoking, Operation Jihadi Bride takes the complex issue of the Jihadi brides head-on - a vital read for our troubled times.




320 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2019

14 people are currently reading
116 people want to read

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John Carney

52 books

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Bookread2day.
2,574 reviews63 followers
July 26, 2019
My review is on my website. www.bookread2daywordpress.com
I read this book in hardback not paperback

John Carney, a born soldier, was moved to action by the women’s terrifying stories. He and his men risked their lives daily, not always making it safely home.

Gripping, shocking and thought-provoking, ‘Operation Jihadi Bride’ takes the complex issue of the Jihadi Brides head-on – a vital read for our troubled times.

John Carney a kind caring soldier who was often funny and he would do what ever it took to save as many people as he could.

I was hooked into every page of this incredible true story. I have only gave a brief outline of John Carney’s covert mission to rescue young a women from ISIS. The fact is he rescues many more people from the ISIS, that’s all explained step by step his operation to save people. Here by just giving an outline I have left it for you to buy the book where you will be able to read about the dangers that John experiences, with the things he witnesses along his journey and how he rescues anyone that he can.

John Carney couldn’t turn his back on a mission to help a bride and her children, what went through his mind is this, if it was his daughter, he would have to rescue her.

Laura Angela Hansen was talking to a Kurdistan local TV station. She didn’t look brutalised, she had self-confidence.

Laura Angela Hansen was born to a conventional Dutch family in 1995 in The Hague . She dropped out of school at 17 and met her Palestinian lover boy , as they were called, through a Muslim dating site. He was very aggressive and the neighbours called the police a lot of times. But she was already pregnant, so she didn’t want a divorce.

After she’d given birth to her daughter, Iman, the family lived in different parts of the Netherlands during the next three years. In September 2015 , as ISIS was marching across Iraq and Syria, Laura’s husband announced that they were going on holiday to Turkey and would be delivering donations to Muslim refugees. She had no idea where the money had come from, or even if it existed. He pushed her into it. She didn’t want to go. First when they arrived in Turkey, the next thing she knew they had crossed the border into Syria. They put her in a house guarded by men with beards and guns, she was frightened all the time.

I recommend reading Operation Jihadi Bride as I learned an awful lot by reading this book.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me this book to read and review.
Profile Image for Norma Nikutowski.
Author 1 book18 followers
November 23, 2019
Operation Jihadi Bride is the gripping story of the rescue of young women who were tricked, sexually abused and enslaved by ISIS. After hearing the women’s terrifying stories, John Carney and his men decide to rescue them from that horrible ordeal. This is no easy task. There are many obstacles and dangerous situations to confront. They risked their lives daily to rescue as many women and children as possible. The book immerses you into a different and terrifying world.
The book will keep you turning pages guessing what will happen next.
If you like thought provoking true stories, you will enjoy this book
Profile Image for Rosemarie.
Author 7 books13 followers
June 25, 2020
See blog 6th July 2020 for full review. Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book.
Profile Image for Gino Cox.
Author 13 books3 followers
July 22, 2019
What if it were my daughter?

This is the question that that troubles and ultimately motivates John Carney, a former soldier and personal-security specialist, when he receives a plea for assistance from a British Pakistani family whose daughter had become a jihadi bride to avoid an arranged marriage but now wants to escape.

Like Dante descending through the seven circles of Hell, Carney plunges into an odyssey of self-discovery and enlightenment, as he learns of the deception, abuses, and cruelty at the hands of the jihadists from the young women he rescues and witnesses first-hand the horror of war and the misery it causes. He comes to view the jihadi brides as victims, deceived by promises of an earthly paradise, equality and the opportunity to make something of their lives, but turned into sex slaves and baby factories, passed from one jihadist to another, compelled to live by strict fundamentalist codes of conduct, subjected to barbaric punishments for the slightest infringement, stripped of their dreams, self-respect and dignity.

But the governments of the countries they abandoned don’t want them back. They were brainwashed into betraying their nations – more often the adoptive nations of their parents, and forfeited any claim to citizenship when they decided to support enemy combatants. At bare minimum, they present a security risk. They could be sleepers, susceptible to later recruitment by other jihadists.

The question poses perplexing ethical issues. Western governments have meddled in the Middle East for the past century, deliberately or inadvertently fomenting conflict, instability and turmoil. What responsibility does the West now have to the refugees who have fled their countries, some of whom are innocent victims, but others of whom are fundamentalist zealots determined to commit acts of terrorism and provoke instability in the West to further dreams of an Islamic world order.

One is also tempted to draw parallels between the jihadists and ultra-liberals in the West who also entice impressionable young women and men to join their cause with possibly unrealistic promises of equality, free education, free medical care, affordable housing and opportunities to make meaningful contributions to society, but brook no dissent or deviation from political correctitude and are quick to condemn and shun those who do not share their values or violate their codes of conduct.

Operation Jihadi Bride is a compelling read that not only informs and entertains, but puts the multifaceted and multilayered Mid-East conflicts, animosities, turmoil and situation into a perspective that Westerners can grasp, if not fully understand or appreciate.
Profile Image for Christina Stathopoulos.
167 reviews152 followers
May 22, 2020
Such a gripping story! This book gives a look into John Carney's (pseudonym for protection) mission to save young women and children from the grips of ISIS. There are some parts that are tough to swallow, as can be expected. It is incredible to hear how him and his team endangered their lives for little personal gain besides the moral obligation to free as many 'innocent' lives as possible and begin their de-radicalization. Highly recommend it!
Profile Image for Susan.
680 reviews4 followers
January 16, 2020
This book s a real eye-opener. It is also extremely worrying as what John Carney ( not his real name)says based on intelligence from those on the ground in the Middle East is worrying. They feel that what is happening in the Middle East is part of a far larger plan to infiltrate Europe then the world with fundamental Muslims. By the acts of terror, ISIS do they are turning other people against Muslims generally and hence making the average decent Muslim feel alienated from society in their country and encouraging them to turn to other Muslims, possibly becoming more fundamental.

He rescued many jihadi "brides" from ISIS and feels this will increase the number of people in the know who are anti-ISIS. Rescuing them shows that the western countries are compassionate, unlike the jihadis who kept these girls as prisoners, half-starved, raped, beaten and used as human shields.

I really hope that ISIS can be obliterated but I do fear he may be right in his prediction and it could mean many ears of this constant terrorism.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Hamilton-Smyth.
Author 2 books6 followers
August 11, 2019
Raw, true and cannot be overlooked

This is one of the best books I’ve read for a long time. A true insight into something that is more than often swept under the rug by politicians. John Carney, an ex-British soldier, embarks on a rescue mission, the target being a Jihadi bride and her two children. The story is a raw account of how young girls are hoodwinked into joining the Islamic State, are then abused, terrified and desperate to escape. The author expertly draws the reader into a fast-paced narrative, brimming with dread and danger, but with aspects enough to rip the hardest heart to shreds. An excellent piece of writing not to be missed.
Profile Image for Frances.
93 reviews5 followers
August 22, 2019
The book I didn’t know I needed

I was in the middle of a reading slump when I came across an excerpt on the local news site. After buying it on amazon, I read it in a day. John Carney’s voice comes across as so genuine, so personal and warm, that sometimes it feels more like reading a novel than a memoir. For me, that’s a good thing. The stories he tells are harrowing, and there are a lot of tragic ends, but there is good too. Highly recommended for people who want a more emotional look at what’s happening in Syria.
Profile Image for Gard Bråten.
17 reviews1 follower
March 14, 2020
An interesting story about the jihadi brides inside ISIS. Shows that a story has different sides, and not all of the women joining knew what they signed up for. The story is well written, but could at times be a bit hard to follow when so much happens at once.

I expect we will see similar books about this topic in the years to come. But this book has set the bar high.
21 reviews
September 7, 2019
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Interesting account of previously unreported efforts of a team offering help to reduce jihadist brides and bringing hope to their families
144 reviews
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October 10, 2019
I found it very informative and easy to read. Just the right length.
Profile Image for Lynne Piza.
88 reviews
July 6, 2020
Wow this was such a thought-provoking read and also so educational and informative! I feel like I learnt so much from this book and actually it changed some of my views about Jihadi brides , because the media only show you what they want you to see, when actually there is so much more to these situations and this book proves it!

I’m not going to really talk about the whole story because I think it would just ruin it with it being a true story, I really think each reader needs to enjoy it for themselves.

However I do want to mention about how he got in to rescuing so many Jihadi brides and their children etc!

John is ex-military and was running a close protection business in Iraq, he had a wife and a daughter living in another country who he loved dearly! One day he was contacted about a rescue mission! But one to rescue a Jihadi Bride who wanted to escape ISIS and she was the FIRST ONE! Originally he outright said no because the mission was just too dangerous, it meant crossing to dangerous territory and heading in to the enemies land! However as time went on, the more he thought about her and her 2 children and their probable fate if he didn’t help, he just couldn’t help but take the job on!

It all became a little more personal when the payment for the job didn’t reach him and he realised the father of the Jihadi Bride who paid him had been seen over, so he decided to take on the job, not for the money but to rescue the young woman and her children!

This just started something for him, realising how horrific life was for these women and children, all the empty promises they had been given, how terrifying their stories were, he set out with a small team to rescue as many as he could!

This lead to some scary and dangerous situations! They risked their lives everyday for this mission and at times it was so hard to read emotionally!

This book is so incredibly current, especially after the Shamima Begume event not so long ago!! It’s so important for these kinds of true life stories to get out there to prove that the media only wants you to see what they want! Not what is actually happening!

This true story will take you to a world that is so far from our own, one which is scary and terrifying, full of evil, corruption and war. An absolutely horrifying world!

It’s shocking, gripping, scary to think it’s real, educating, relevant, harrowing and totally thought-provoking and therefore I’d like to give it 4 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ !
Profile Image for Sue.
4 reviews
August 6, 2022
Well written and page turning. This book was given to my son as a gift by one of the authors (whom I don't know personally). I sat and read it in a single session. I strongly recommend the book.

This is the story of ex-military security specialist John Carney and his network who helped a series of former "Jihadi brides" and their children escape from their "captors". At times it reads like a real-life Le Carre novel and as with Le Carre you meet a string of minor characters, helpers, facilitators, government agents who smooth paths and source weapons and people as well as hinder or try to squeeze intel out of John. Not everyone survives and there are appalling tales of the treatment of women by the Caliphate.

Beneath the tales of derring-do and mayhem lie serious questions. What should happen to these women who ran away from the UK, the US and various European countries to become Jihadi brides and who now largely deeply regret their actions? Should they return to their home countries and be rehabilitated or left to rot? What are the risks associated with bringing them back?

I felt no sympathy for the women John Carney helped save. They were complete fools and you have to wonder how thousands of girls were brainwashed into believing they would have a better life in the Caliphate. In some cases there was a desperation to escape but what drove these girls to run off? They all regretted it later and knew they had been duped. Was it the thought of love and romance that turned their heads?

Like former gang members who later become youth or social workers, the girls, now women, realise the errors of their ways as mature adults.

In the UK, something more deep and radical is required to stop our young people being brainwashed by cults, gangs and religious fanaticism. The Prevent programme may not be enough. Our police and social services are stretched. Our disaffected, unhappy young people (and the UK rates low on the youth happiness index) need proper support and activity to ensure they take worthwhile paths.

The jihad will never end. There will be no peace process or reconciliation. The caliphate will move to establish itself in Africa and the risk of terrorist incidents in Europe and Western nations will remain high. You can but shudder at the thought.

This book doesn't set out to provide answers but highlights important questions for Western nations. How can the situation be resolved and mitigated?
Profile Image for Taryn.
16 reviews
August 24, 2021
I'm halfway through this (hence the 3 stars - because I don't yet know how it ends) and had to put it down for two reasons. It seems that the narrator is telling a circular story, and there's a whole lot of swearing that probably isn't necessary to convey the story and only serves to make the author appear to be 'big-noting'. I've read a lot of these kinds of books and know this isn't always the case, that this is simply how they speak, but it was hard to keep reading when it detracted from what was actually going on. I've read bigger books with less language that got further by the halfway point.
I'm hoping for a blistering finale without having my eyes fall out from the F-bombs and such. I'll look past it and get to the real story and hope they fritter out a bit, because what's happening is still someone's reality, and that's the part I want to stay with me.
Not a book to loan to your mother unless she worked in the military or can turn a sailor's ears blue ;)
Profile Image for Phil Curme.
147 reviews3 followers
October 3, 2023
Clifford Thurlow has done an excellent job in honing John Carney's (not real name) exciting account of his work in ISIS controlled territory, rescuing women - or rather, girls - who had found themselves in the appalling position of being Jihadi brides - 'passed around like sweets' and living unimaginably appalling lives. Whilst most of these women travelled to the Caliphate of their own volition, the brutal reality of what they had let themselves in for soon became apparent. Carney and his compatriots showed great bravery in 'saving' these victims from situations which, admittedly, they had often brought on themselves. As well as a thrilling account of combat in this theatre, the book explores with some sensitivity, the question of whether these women should be assimilated back into western society, or whether they should be treated as a potential threat. This book underscores the point that the aspiration should perhaps coalesce around the former.
27 reviews
February 25, 2025
I found this book upsetting, moving & terrifying. I appreciate things are never black and white, and it’s complicated reintegrating people, but I really hope more people read this and try and understand what drew people in the first place and that kindness, support and understanding could help everyone.
182 reviews1 follower
May 27, 2021
An excellent book from the inside story about how a man without any exceptional military background was able to bring back ISIS terrorists who suddenly found the caliphate wasn't to their liking...slightly spoiled by his determination for some reason to mention brexit at every turn..
2 reviews
September 15, 2020
I read this as a paper back book and it was just incredible and captivating! I have so much admiration and respect for John Carney and I found the book to be impossible to put down.
Profile Image for Barry Bear.
4 reviews
April 27, 2021
One of the best books i ever read. May God keep him safe in his missions.🙏
Profile Image for Caitlin Yendle.
1 review
December 28, 2021
Read this a few years ago. As someone who is not a quick reader I finished this book in three days and had tears in my eyes by the end. Was a book I didn’t know I needed to read until I read it!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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