The operation is conducted by Asayish with support from the SDF and the global coalition, and aims “to hunt down ISIS terrorist cells in the al-Hol camp, drain the ISIS enabling environment, and save the residents from ISIS terrorism.”
According to the statement, ISIS has carried out 43 attacks in the squalid facility this year, killing 44 residents including women and children. The camp has also witnessed over a dozen attempts of abduction, arson, and destruction of relief supplies.
The Asayish further added that overrunning al-Hol camp was the next target for ISIS after the failed al-Sina’a prison siege in January.
The notorious al-Hol camp continues to pose a serious security risk and violence in the camp continues to regularly lead to murders.
Located in Hasaka province, al-Hol has infamously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with Kurdish and Iraqi authorities describing the sprawling facility as a “ticking time bomb,” saying the situation in the camp is “very dangerous” with ISIS sleeper cells active in the camp.
Iraqi nationals make up the bulk of the camp’s population.
“The lack of a clear international plan to solve this problem, the non-repatriation of foreign nationals by their countries, and the lack of effective and adequate support to our forces and the AANES [Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria] have aggravated the threat of the camp,” the statement added, holding the international community responsible and reiterating previous calls for foreign countries to repatriate their ISIS-linked nationals from the facility.
The SDF arrested droves of ISIS fighters and their families when they overran ISIS’s last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Many of these people were taken to al-Hol, which is now home to around 56,000 people - mostly women and children of different nationalities.
