Kurdish forces arrest dozens of suspected jihadists after a security operation in Al Hol

MADRID, 28 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Kurdish Asayish militias have arrested dozens of alleged members of "sleeper" cells of the Islamic State jihadist organization in the Al Hol camp, in northeastern Syria, which houses families of alleged members of the group and where violence has registered unprecedented levels this year, with 44 deaths, including 14 women.

The militias, responsible for the internal Kurdish security apparatus, in collaboration with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-Arab militias that control northeastern Syria, launched the so-called Operation Security and Humanity on Thursday to arrest these hidden members.

The operation has so far resulted in 27 detainees and four "trenches" used by the suspects to store material. 33 tents used as headquarters for "Islamic courts" and "schools to promote the group's ideology" have also been dismantled, according to a statement from the SDF collected by the Kurdish agency Rudaw.

Al Hol, in Hasaka province, is one of the most dangerous places in Syria. Kurdish and Iraqi authorities occasionally describe it as a "bomb waiting to explode" and a constant danger to its nearly 56,000 inhabitants, many of them women and children of different nationalities transferred there after the territorial defeat of Islamic State in Syria in 2019. .

In June, the United Nations warned that 50 percent of the population in the camp are under the age of twelve and called on the various governments involved to speed up the repatriation process given the risk that the situation poses to the region and the world.

The camp "is a desolate and sprawling complex of tents under a scorching sun", while stressing that "many people, particularly children, never asked to be a part of this desperate situation with no end in sight" and their situation "only contributes to fueling extremism".