ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday announced the arrest of two suspected Islamic State (ISIS) operatives who are accused of smuggling weapons to the group's cells in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava).
The SDF, with the aerial support of the global coalition against ISIS, conducted a raid in Hasaka city where the camp is located, arresting two ISIS operatives identified as Saeed Hussein al-Hamawi and Ali Mohammed Gahanam by the coalition.
“With air surveillance provided by the international coalition forces, our forces successfully apprehended the terrorist who was responsible for supplying weapons to active terrorist cells in the Al-Hol camp, enabling them to carry out killings and assassinations. Additionally, he was involved in smuggling other cell members from the camp to different areas,” said the SDF in a statement.
“During the operation, our special units also apprehended another suspect who was working with the detained cell member,” it added.
The coalition said in their statement that “SDF coordinated the deliberate targeting of these ISIS members to further disrupt ISIS capabilities, degrade their support networks, and improve security and stability within Al-Hol IDP camp.”
The arrests followed a wave of crackdowns on the group by the SDF in northeast Syria, in coordination with the global coalition.
Turkey on Sunday announced it had killed the suspected leader of ISIS, Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi, during an operation in Syria the day before.
Farhad Shami, head of SDF media centre, took to twitter after Ankara's announcement and claimed that Qurayshi was killed in Jindires, adding that he had been protected by Turkish forces stationed there.
ISIS rose to power seizing swathes of Syria in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in the country five years later. Though the group no longer controls any territory, it continues to pose security risks through kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings in both Syria and Iraq.
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