“Muslims won’t die of this virus, only infidels will. God has sent his army. This is one of God's soldiers,” says one woman.
This view is consistent with the so-called Islamic State’s line on the virus, which sees the pandemic as divine retribution toward “crusader nations”.
Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, an expert on the terrorist group, notes that they have urged fighters in their newsletter, Al-Naba, to use the world’s focus on the virus to their advantage
The families of ISIS militants did not allow Rudaw reporters into their tents.
They are housed in a separate section of the camp from refugees and IDPs who fled the terrorist group in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa in Syria, and parts of federal Iraq.
Al-Hol camp provides shelter to more than 67,000 refugees from around the globe.
Its 21 health facilities receive around 40 patients each every day. However, medical professionals do not have the equipment required to test suspected COVID-19 cases themselves, and consequently need to send tests to Damascus.
Thus far, there have been no confirmed cases in north-east Syria.
Camp management fears that controlling the spread of a virus like COVID-19 in a camp setting will be terribly difficult.
