Syrian Army Reportedly Enters Al-Hawl Camp Housing IS Suspect Relatives

Syria’s army has reportedly entered the country’s vast al-Hawl detention camp that houses relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists, after Kurdish forces withdrew. A large group of soldiers opened the camp’s metal gate and entered while others guarded the entrance, according to an Agence France-Presse journalist at the scene. Al-Hawl, located in a desert region of al-Hasakah province, holds about 24,000 people, including 15,000 Syrians and about 6,300 foreign women and children of 42 nationalities. Kurdish forces announced on Tuesday that they had been “compelled to withdraw” from the camp to defend cities in Syria’s north threatened by the army, before a ceasefire was announced. The camp is the largest for suspected jihadists established by Kurdish forces, who spearheaded the fight against IS with help from an international coalition before IS was defeated in Syria in 2019. The Syrian defence ministry said on Tuesday it was ready to take responsibility for al-Hawl camp “and all IS prisoners”. The announcement came as the US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said “the original purpose” of Kurdish forces as the primary anti-IS force had “largely expired”. The Syrian army deployed on Monday across vast parts of northern and north-east Syria from which Kurdish forces had withdrawn. An agreement between the two sides stipulates that the Syrian state becomes responsible for IS prisoners and that the Kurdish administration be integrated into Syrian state institutions. Syria’s interior ministry said it was taking necessary measures to maintain the security of al-Hawl. Thousands of former jihadists, including many westerners, are held in seven prisons, while tens of thousands of their family members live in two camps established by Kurdish forces in northern Syria, al-Hawl and Al-Roj.