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Women and children at al-Hol camp on June 10, 2020. Photo: ANHA
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Security forces are continuing an inspection campaign in al-Hol camp aimed at preventing further chaos inside the camp being chronically stirred up by women loyal to the Islamic State (ISIS).
Dozens of armed riot police led by the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) combed through hundreds of crowded tents as camp authorities began a campaign yesterday to register camp residents’ biometric data, reported local media Hawar News Agency (ANHA), which is tied to the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The sweep campaign is targeting al-Hol’s "immigrant section" – designated for foreign ISIS families – in efforts to root out secret ISIS cells that have been created by women within the camp and have been spreading chaos for its residents. ANHA reported on Thursday that YPJ anti-terrorist squads and riot control units are overseeing the sweep of the camp.
Al-Hol camp has witnessed multiple attack in recent months, in which women who adhere to the radical ideology of the jihadist group have rioted in the camp, attacking guards of the camp, or burning down tents of women who they see as violating their strict rules by talking to men, or removing their veils.
Sheikhmous Ahmed, who oversees all displacement camps in Rojava, told Rudaw English late Wednesday that they aim to put an end to the “chaos” created by ISIS women in the camp. “There have been escape attempts, arson, attempted murder, and attacks on camp officials,” Ahmed said.
He also said that some of the camp residents have refused to reveal their real identities, even to international organizations who work in the camp in coordination with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES).
Thousands of women and children of suspected ISIS fighters at al-Hol camp will be officially registered in a bid to boost security and “improve living conditions” in the camp, NES officials said Wednesday.
Zilan Nebo, an official responsible for the registration told ANHA that authorities are fingerprinting and photographing the women, as well as taking iris scans and DNA tests. “Our aim is to make the international community hear us and realize that their nationals are in our camps so that they help us logistically and in other terms,” she said, adding that the process is expected to be completed within two to three days.
Located in northeast Syria’s Hasaka province, approximately 68,000 people live in al-Hol camp, of whom approximately 43,000 are children and the majority are women.
Most are Iraqis and Syrians, half of whom are believed to have links to the terror group, after they were arrested during the liberation of ISIS territories during the campaign to oust the group from its last holdout in the Syrian town of Baghouz in March 2019.
About 10,000 ISIS-related suspects are foreign nationals, according to data published by Rojava Information Center.
NES officials have called on the international community to repatriate their nationals or help facilitate trials of suspected ISIS members in northeast Syria, known to Kurds as Rojava. However, only a few countries have responded positively.
On a case-by-case basis, Azerbaijan, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Russia’s Chechnya among others have taken back several children born to ISIS-affiliated parents.
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