Syria Kurds launch security sweep, arrests in Daesh camp

Kurdish forces made dozens of arrests in a security operation launched in a camp for suspected family members of Daesh in northeast Syria, said a war monitor and Kurdish officials

Kurdish forces made dozens of arrests in a security operation launched on Sunday in a camp for suspected family members of Daesh militants in northeast Syria, a war monitor and Kurdish officials said.

Al Hol is the largest such settlement controlled by Kurdish authorities, who warn it is emerging as an extremist powder keg following dozens of murders in the camp since the start of the year.

It holds almost 62,000 people, mostly women, and children, including Syrians, Iraqis, and thousands from Europe and Asia suspected of family ties with IS fighters.

“More than thirty women and men have been arrested” in a sweeping anti-Daesh operation in and around the Al Hol camp, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The arrests are ongoing” as part of a days-long operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the Kurdish regional administration’s main fighting force, the Kurdish YPG militia, and a local police force, Abdul Rahman said.

Syrians and foreigners “suspected of supporting Daesh” have been arrested, he said.