Syria: Kurdish forces in the northeastern region of Syria have recently captured dozens of people who are directly linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the Al-Hol refugee camp, as per stated by a Kurdish official on Friday. The camp, which is administered by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is located less than 10 kilometres from the Iraqi border. Dilapidated and overcrowded, it is home to almost 56,000 people, as per the United Nations. It includes relatives of jihadists, displaced by Syrians and Iraqi refugees. Around 10,000 of the camp’s residents are foreigners.
Meanwhile, Siyemend Ali of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main armed militia of the Kurdish forces, said, “The operations launched on Thursday by Kurdish forces, “is aimed at arresting ISIS members in the camp who are behind several terrorist attacks.” A total of 27 people were arrested, Ali said from Al-Hol.
He said, “Our troops have started dismantling the empty tents used by ISIS in the attacks and started recording the names of camp residents and taking their fingerprints.”
On Friday, Kurdish security forces were heavily deployed in the camp. In the statement, the SDF called Al-Hol a “nursery” for jihadists, arguing that the camp had become fertile ground for new ISIS recruits.
After occupying vast territory in Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2017, ISIS has had a series of setbacks. At the end of 2017, Iraq has declared “victory” after driving the terror group out of all urban strongholds. By March 2019, ISIS had lost all its stronghold in Syria.
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