AL-HOL, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces on Wednesday took full control of a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to the Islamic State group as a truce between the government and Kurdish fighters appears to be holding.
A convoy of armored vehicles carrying government troops moved into the al-Hol camp Wednesday following two weeks of clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led fighters who lost large parts
of land that they had controlled for years. The U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces appear closer than ever to merge into the Syrian military, in accordance with demands by the government.
The capture of the camp came a day after SDF fighters withdrew from the facility that they had been running for years.
At its peak in 2019, some 73,000 people were living at al-Hol camp. Since then the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens.
The camp is now home to some 24,000, most of them women and children linked to the Islamic State group. They include about 14,500 Syrians and nearly 3,000 Iraqis. Some 6,500 others, many of them loyal IS supporters who came from around the world to join the extremist group, are separately held in a highly-secured section of the camp.
There have been reports that some families managed to flee the camp during the chaos but there has been no official confirmation.
An Associated Press journalist was not allowed into the camp but saw scores of soldiers guarding the main entrance of the facility.
Late Tuesday, the Syrian government and the SDF announced a new four-day truce after a previous ceasefire broke down. Northeast Syria was relatively calm on Wednesday.
The SDF and the government traded blame over the escape Monday of IS members from a prison in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh. Since then many of the detainees who fled were captured by government troops who took control of the jail, state media reported.
The SDF remains in control of the vast majority of more than a dozen prisons where some 9,000 members of IS have been held for years. Under a deal announced Sunday, government forces were to take over the control of the prisons from the SDF, but the transfer did not go smoothly.
The largest detention facility is the Gweiran Prison, now called Panorama, which has held about 4,500 IS-linked detainees for years. The prison is in the city of Hassakeh, which is still under full control of the SDF.
Syria’s Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Hassan Abdul-Ghani said in televised comments Tuesday night that the government “was and still is in direct confrontation” with IS. He added that authorities are ready to take over prisons where IS members are held. He added that once prisons are taken over, they will be put under the authority of the Interior Ministry.
IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries.
The SDF played a major role in defeating IS.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. envoy to Syria, said in a statement Tuesday that the SDF’s role as the primary anti-IS force “has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities." He added that the “recent developments show the U.S. actively facilitating this transition, rather than prolonging a separate SDF role.”
