Two British soldiers who flew to Syria to tackle Islamic State are held at Heathrow as terror suspects after returning home to spend Christmas with their families.

Two former British soldiers who flew to Syria to fight Islamic State fanatics were held at Heathrow as terror suspects after flying home for Christmas.

Jamie Read, 24, and James Hughes, 26, left to help Kurdish forces battling the extremists following the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.

They were not paid and only received food, equipment and shelter.When they landed they were taken to separate rooms and questioned for six hours.

He told the Sun: 'I was raging. They kept asking why we went, who we were with and were we being paid? We weren't, of course.'Mr Read says he hopes to head back to the war-torn nation, as the conflict with ISIS is 'unfinished business'.

Mr Read's partner Leeann Fleming, 24, previously said: ‘The plan is that he will be home for Christmas – and to see him home safely would be the best Christmas present ever.
‘I am very worried about him. I spoke to him only a couple of days ago over Skype. He’s fine and safe. I never know his location when we speak. I miss him lots of course and I can’t wait to be reunited with him.’
The pair met in Turkey when Miss Fleming, of Newmains, Lanarkshire, was 16 and they have been in a relationship for the last six years.

She added: ‘I think he’s really brave for what he is doing. But that is his personality. I am not surprised by what he has done.He spoke about it and now he has done what he said he would do. So it is not much of a shock to me.’


Last weekend Mr Read, who has lost 11 comrades in fierce fighting with IS, said the terror group is the biggest threat the world faces.

Speaking from the frontline after seeing villages ransacked and locals killed by IS forces, he said: ‘My family were nervous and obviously worried about my wellbeing – we have gone into an unknown world.
‘But I’m a firm believer that if you want to do something you have to do it, not talk about it.’

When he left Scotland, Mr Read, originally from Cumbria, joined up with Mr Hughes, of Worcestershire, after meeting on an anti-IS Facebook page.

They flew from Manchester to Istanbul before making their way to war-torn Kobane.
They are part of a 20-strong foreign legion helping the Kurds’ Peoples Defence Units, the YPG.
The YPG has confirmed 11 of its fighters have been killed by gunfire and suicide bombings in the town, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the Syrian civil war.

A YPG spokesman said: ‘IS gangs carried out four suicide attacks, including one with a panzer vehicle and two suicide assailants at the border gate, and one other with a bomb-laden vehicle.