ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The commander of United States forces in the Middle East visited northeast Syria on Thursday to assess the situation on the ground amid concerns about a possible Islamic State (ISIS) resurgence and the future of thousands of the group’s fighters detained by Kurdish-led forces.
General Michael "Erik" Kurilla, US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, “traveled to Syria, where he met U.S. military commanders and servicemembers, as well as our Defeat-ISIS partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to get an assessment on the ongoing Defeat-ISIS campaign and efforts to prevent the resurgence of the terrorist group in the region as well as the evolving situation in Syria,” CENTCOM stated.
“Personal, face to face interaction is key to understanding the challenges and opportunities our U.S. service members and partners face on a daily basis,” Kurilla said.
The SDF and its international allies have fought to prevent an ISIS resurgence when the jihadists tried to take advantage of the rebel takeover of Damascus and the fall of the former Syrian regime last month.
Kurilla also visited al-Hol camp, one of the sites housing ISIS supporters from around the world.
The “al-Hol and al-Roj camps house over 40,000 displaced personnel, many with ties to ISIS. Without international repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration efforts, these camps risk creating the next generation of ISIS,” CENTCOM stated.
Al-Hol camp in Hasaka province is infamous for its squalid conditions and has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
In addition, over 9,000 ISIS members from 50 different countries remain in SDF detention facilities, CENTCOM said, calling it a “literal and figurative 'ISIS Army' in detention.”
The future of these camps and detention centers is uncertain as Syria navigates its transition following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Kurilla said CENTCOM’s focus is the repatriation of camp residents back to their countries of origin, something the Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava) have repeatedly urged the international community to do.
Kurilla visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday and urged Iraqi authorities to repatriate their nationals from northeast Syria.
Iraq’s migration and displaced ministry on Wednesday announced the first repatriation of 2025 when over 700 nationals were brought back from al-Hol camp.
Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the ISIS-linked people who have been held at the camp since the defeat of the group in 2019.
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked opposition in Iraq, with tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the group that committed heinous human rights abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when they controlled vast swathes of the country.
Most repatriated individuals are kept in al-Jada camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, to be prepared for reintegration into their communities and then returned to their hometowns.
