ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday announced that they had arrested a financier in the former Islamic State (ISIS) capital of Raqqa, who confessed to funding the terrorist organization in a video.
The arrestee, named Mohammed Ahmed Kurz, hails from the city of al-Bab in northern Syria. He says he was coerced under threat to supply ISIS with funds, usually sent from nearby Turkey and the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib.
"I started working with Ibrahim [Kurz's associate] in Raqqa in 2021. He tasked me with receiving cheques from Idlib and Turkey and distributing them to ISIS cells in al-Hol camp," said Kurz.
Around 56,000 people live in the notorious al-Hol camp in Hasaka, northeast Syria (Rojava), the majority of whom are women and children accused of being affiliated with ISIS.
He mentioned that Ibrahim would smuggle explosives from the aforementioned areas and use them to threaten large merchants in Raqqa to supply ISIS for money.
"Ibrahim had planted a bomb under the building in which I resided, and this was one of the bombs he threatened merchants with to fund ISIS," he added.
However, the SDF claims that Kurz himself led a blackmailing ring in Raqqa, forcing people to finance ISIS cells. The Kurdish-led force says that Kurz was arrested as he received an explosive device that was to be detonated in front of a shop in the city.
Last month, the Kurdish force warned of the international community turning a blind eye to ISIS's financing operations in Rojava, citing "international inaction" with regards to the criminal networks in Turkish-occupied areas in Rojava.
Kurdish authorities have previously stated that al-Hol camp is a "ticking time bomb" and that the situation in the camp is "very dangerous."
Eight suspected ISIS members were arrested in a series of operations in Istanbul last year.
One month later, a top ISIS official accused of planning a large-scale terrorist attack in Turkey was arrested in Syria.