Verified Video: Armed Men Seize Control of IS Camp in Syria

Footage shows man urging children to leave Syrian camp Paul Brown, Ahmed Moneim and Lamees Atlalbi BBC Verify and BBC Arabic We've just verified footage appearing to show a man encouraging a group of young people to leave the al-Hol camp in Syria, which holds thousands of people with alleged links to the Islamic State (IS) group. The footage shows three children passing through an open gate. The man filming tells them to take the "opportunity" to leave through a second open gate which leads to a road outside of the camp. Several individuals, some of whom appear to be wearing face veils, can already be seen walking away from the camp. The conversation is conducted in a number of different dialects, including classical Arabic, and ends with the three children running back into the camp. The footage was filmed at the fence next to the camp's annex, which houses "third country" women and children who are not citizens of Iraq or Syria. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which has previously operated at the camp, has reported that "little to no movement" is permitted between the annex and the main camp, which houses Syrian and Iraqi nationals. Photos leaked to BBC show faces of hundreds killed in Iran crackdown Merlyn Thomas, Shayan Sardarizadeh and Ghoncheh Habibiazad BBC Verify and BBC Persian Warning: this post contains graphic content which some readers might find distressing Our team has been working on a story showing the brutality of Iran's crackdown on anti-government protesters as the internet blackout enters its third week. Hundreds of photos revealing the faces of those protesters have been leaked to BBC Verify. Friday 9 January was one of the deadliest nights for protesters in Tehran so far. We identified labels on more than 100 victims, who had their date of death recorded, showed that same date. The pictures, which are too graphic to show without blurring, reveal the bloodied, swollen and bruised faces of at least 326 victims - including 18 women. The images, displayed in a south Tehran mortuary, are one of the only ways families have been able to identify their dead loved ones. Many of the victims were too disfigured to be identified, we were told. Sixty-nine people had been labelled in Persian as John or Jane Doe, suggesting their identity was unknown when the photo was taken. Only 28 of the victims had labels with clearly visible names in the photos. Read our full investigation here. US seizes sanctioned oil tanker Joshua Cheetham BBC Verify journalist This morning we’ve been looking into the seizure of another oil tanker by US forces in the Caribbean. US authorities have released a video of the ship, named Sagitta, and various features on its deck are consistent with previous photos of this vessel available online. It is unclear where exactly the vessel was seized. Signal from the ship’s onboard tracker was last received by MarineTraffic almost 80 days ago, when it was transmitting a location in the Baltic. It is flagged to Liberia and its beneficial owner is listed as Sunne Co Ltd, based in China. The Sagitta is currently sanctioned by the US, UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UN. TankerTrackers says the vessel exported fuel from Venezuela in August 2025 while using a “zombie alias”. This is a technique to hide a ship’s real identity by using the identity of another ship that has been scrapped, de-registered or sunk. Verified video shows armed men entering Syria IS camp after SDF withdrawal Paul Brown BBC Verify senior journalist We have verified video showing a convoy of armed men in vehicles entering al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria, which is holding thousands of people with alleged links to the Islamic State (IS) group. The footage was shared after troops from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pulled out of al-Hol, following renewed clashes between them and forces loyal to the Syrian government. The SDF has said it was "compelled" to leave the camp "due to the international indifference toward the issue of [IS]". A BBC team who entered the camp in October last year were met with intimidation from residents. The video was filmed from the back of a pick-up shortly after entering the camp at its western gate. It shows armed men shouting "Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as residents of the camp rush towards the fences. It is unclear from the footage who the forces entering the camp are. AFP has reported that “a large number of soldiers” from Syria’s army had entered the camp, and Syrian state media has posted photographs this morning of troops stationed at the eastern gate. Since the footage emerged, a new ceasefire has been declared between the SDF and Syrian government. Verifying IS camp footage from Syria Adam Durbin BBC Verify Live senior journalist BBC Verify is looking into the situation on the ground in Syria after videos emerged of armed men entering a camp holding thousands of people with alleged links to the Islamic State group. Al-Hol camp in the country’s north-east was controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, before the Kurdish-led group pulled out after recent clashes with Syrian government forces. We’ve verified footage of a convoy of vehicles entering al-Hol and are speaking to experts about what a change of who runs it might mean for the people held there. We’re also examining footage of the US seizing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean. It is not clear exactly where the Sagitta was captured, but we've been able to establish the shadow fleet vessel's registration and ownership history. Plus, our fact checkers are digging into claims made by Donald Trump last night in the White House, ahead of the US president’s appearance at the the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland later.