Neighbouring states warned of chaos if IS prisoners were freed from camp they regard as hotbed of extremism
Kurdish-led forces in Syria have announced a withdrawal from a detention camp in north-east Syria housing tens of thousands of Islamic State-linked detainees, as Syrian government forces continued to advance in the region.
The fate of al-Hol, which houses among others the most radical of foreign women suspected to have been members of IS, and their families, is of great concern to neighbouring states and the international community. These states have for years warned the camp is a hotbed of extremism and chaos could result if a jailbreak were to occur.
A smaller number of female detainees are held at al-Roj camp, including Shamima Begum, who was stripped of UK citizenship, further to the north-east and still under Kurdish control.
“Our forces were compelled to withdraw from Al-Hol camp and redeploy in the vicinity of cities in northern Syria that are facing increasing risks and threats,” a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said, calling the withdrawal a “failure of the international community”.
