ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Security forces in northeastern Syria (Rojava) have arrested a prominent Islamic State (ISIS) leader at al-Hol camp, the Coalition spokesperson announced on Tuesday. “The #SDF and #Asayish captured a prominent #daesh cell leader, Ahmed Khoshua, at al-Hawl IDP Camp with info obtained from the recent security op,” said Colonel Wayne Marotto in a tweet on Tuesday, referring to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and internal security forces (Asayish). “Removing dangerous #daesh cells from the camp will lead to increased safety and security for IDPs and NGOs at the camp,” he added. SDF-linked Hawar news (ANHA) reported that Ahmed Khoshua’s nom de guerre was Abu Khalid, and that he was of Iraqi origins, born in Anbar province in 1992. They described him as “one of the most dangerous ISIS leaders at al-Hol.” Late March, thousands of SDF, Asayish, and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) forces started an operation on al-Hol camp, which is home to around 61,000 people, mostly women and children linked to ISIS militants. Conditions in the camp have previously been condemned by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as “filthy and often inhuman.” Almost 40,000 foreign nationals live in al-Hol. Ali al-Hassan, spokesperson for the Asayish announced that 125 members of ISIS sleeper cells were arrested during the operation in a press conference on Friday. Twenty ISIS leaders were among the arrested, with the spokesman saying they were responsible for a wave of murders this year. Security forces also seized “military supplies” and “electronic circuits used in explosive devices,” he added. ISIS remnants in Syria have been hit hard in recent weeks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Tuesday that at least 29 ISIS members were killed in more than 210 Russian airstrikes in 72 hours.
