Syria
A picture shows the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate, during a security operation by the Kurdish Asayish security forces and the special forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces, on August 26, 2022. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Internal security forces (Asayish) arrested dozens of suspected Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells as part of a security operation in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava), the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported Saturday.
Asayish, in cooperation with the SDF and the global coalition, launched Operation Security and Humanity on Thursday to counter ISIS sleeper cells in al-Hol camp, infamously known as a breeding ground for the terror group.
Twenty-seven "terrorists affiliated with ISIS sleeper cells" were arrested and four trenches dug by ISIS suspects were backfilled during the operation, in addition to the dismantling of 33 tents used as ISIS courts and classrooms to promote the group's ideology, according to the SDF statement.
Located in Hasaka province, 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" with ISIS sleeper cells active there.
The squalid facility continues to pose a serious security risk, and violence in the camp regularly leads to murders.
The SDF arrested swarms of ISIS fighters and their families after the Kurdish-led force defeated the terror group in their last stronghold in Syria in 2019. Many of these people were taken to al-Hol, which is now home to around 56,000 people – mostly women and children of different nationalities.
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