Kurdish forces end week-long op in Rojava, detain 79 ISIS suspects

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday announced the completion of a week-long operation against Islamic State (ISIS) sleeping cells in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava), detaining 79 suspected members of the group.

The SDF and partner forces on Wednesday launched “Operation Enduring Security” in and around al-Hol in response to intensified ISIS attacks.

“As a result of the comb operations in the northern and southern countryside of al-Hol, the city of Al-Hol, and its camp, the forces of Operation Enduring Security captured 79 ISIS terrorists, seized a significant quantity of weapons, including bombs and mines,” read a statement from the SDF, following the completion of the operations. 

During the operations, the Kurdish forces “interrogated 17 women implicated in acts of torture and providing support to ISIS terrorist cells.”

The SDF said they also discovered “a woman’s body tortured and murdered in the camp, based on the confessions of an involved woman.”

Al-Hol camp is located in Hasaka province and has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism. The majority of people in the camp are originally from Syria and Iraq, though it also houses people from around the world who traveled to the Middle East to live in the so-called ISIS caliphate.

Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria have repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their nationals from al-Hol, but many countries are hesitant to take back their citizens due to security concerns.

The week-long operation was “repeatedly postponed” due to Turkish strikes on Rojava, the SDF said. 

Last month, Turkey intensified its strike on Rojava following an attack on the Ankara campus of the Turkish aerospace firm (TUSAS), which the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for. Ankara considers the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, as the Syria offshoot of the PKK.