ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Saturday said they arrested 16 Islamic State (ISIS) suspects on the fourth day of an anti-terror operation in a camp housing thousands of the group’s family members and supporters. “The participating forces conducted searches in the city of al-Hol, its suburbs, and significant parts of the camp. As a result, 16 ISIS terrorists were captured and a quantity of weapons, ammunition, and military supplies were seized,” the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement. The SDF and partner forces on Wednesday launched “Operation Enduring Security” in and around al-Hol in response to intensified ISIS attacks. 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 bring back their citizens due to security concerns. During the raids, the SDF said that some ISIS suspects attempted to escape but “all such attempts were thwarted, and the operation forces successfully captured them and implemented necessary security measures.” The SDF, which controls northeast Syria, fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and took the group’s last stronghold in Syria in 2019. ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014. While the group was declared territorially defeated in 2019, it continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions on both sides of the border.
