Syria
The Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka province on June 2, 2021. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Internal security forces (Asayish) raided the infamous al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava) and searched the area for weapons, a conflict monitor reported on Sunday amid a surge of crimes in the camp.
With the recent increase of assassinations in the squalid camp and a destabilizing security situation, security forces on Saturday scouted "all sectors" of the camp in Syria's Hasaka province in an attempt to seize weapons, the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) said.
The success of the raids is currently unclear, as the outcome has yet to be reported.
Al-Hol has infamously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with Kurdish and Iraqi authorities describing the sprawling camp as a "ticking time bomb," saying the situation in the camp is "very dangerous."
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters and their wives and children when they took control of the group's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Most of these people are held at al-Hol, which is home to around 56,000 people – mostly women and children of different nationalities.
Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the camp's residents, where ISIS sleeper cells remain active. Multiple deaths have been reported at the camp over the past months.
SOHR reported that a displaced Syrian woman was shot dead by ISIS cells in the camp on Thursday. Two days prior, unidentified bodies of two women were found in one of the camp's sectors, and a day before the discovery of the bodies, an Iraqi refugee was shot dead in the camp.
The body of another Iraqi man killed by a silenced weapon was found by security forces in the camp earlier in the month.
There have been repeated calls from Kurdish, Iraqi, and US officials requesting the international community to repatriate their nationals from al-Hol, but most have gone unanswered as many countries are worried about security concerns.
The UK repatriated two orphans from the camp on April 5, with Russia taking back over 10 ISIS-affiliated children shortly after.
Around 450 Iraqi families returned to Iraq from the camp, an official told Rudaw earlier in April, despite the country being one of the world's top executioners.
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