6/1/2024
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Saturday announced the arrest of an individual accused of smuggling people out of al-Hol camp, which houses families linked to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Abdullah Muhammad Ibrahim, known as Abu Hisham, was arrested in the village of Abu Jern in northeastern Hasaka. Ibrahim was "actively smuggling ISIS members and families out of al-Hol camp," the SDF stated.
"The terrorist Ibrahim was involved in smuggling children known as ’Cubs of the Caliphate’ and women affiliated with ISIS. He aimed to transport them to ISIS-controlled areas in the Syrian Badia desert and Ottoman Turkish-occupied territories that harbored the ISIS key leaders," read a statement from the SDF.
The SDF arrested thousands of ISIS fighters along with their wives and children when they took control of the group’s last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Many of these people have been living in camps for the past five years.
Al-Hol is the largest of these camps. It is located in northeast Syria’s Hasaka province and houses over 50,000 ISIS-linked people. The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism. Residents come from around the world, but the majority are Syrian and Iraqi.
Iraq has brought nearly 9,000 of its nationals back so far, but the repatriations have sparked opposition from tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the group that committed atrocious human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when it controlled vast areas of the country.
SDF, US-led coalition arrest ISIS leader in east Syria: Monitor
6/1
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the United States-led coalition on Friday arrested a suspected leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, a conflict monitor reported.
“In a special operation in the town of al-Busayrah in Deir ez-Zor countryside, the global coalition forces and the SDF arrested a leader of the Islamic State organization who leads a cell in the town to launch attacks and target SDF areas,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.
Joint operations to pursue ISIS cells on the banks of the Euphrates River are ongoing, the monitor said, two days after the US-led coalition arrested three people in an airdrop operation in Hasaka province, with the support of the SDF.
ISIS attacks in Syria, particularly in the vast expanses of its eastern desert where the group is active amid a security vacuum, have been on the rise in recent months, sparking fears of a possible resurgence.
The commander of American operations in the Middle East, CENTCOM, General Michael Kurilla told Congress in March that if US troops were to leave, as they are under pressure to do in Iraq, “ISIS would reconstitute the ability to seize territory within two years,” according to the Pentagon’s most recent quarterly report on anti-ISIS operation.
Hundreds of US troops stationed in Syria are part of an international coalition that has fought ISIS alongside the SDF.
ISIS attacks oil field in east Syria: Watchdog
5/31
Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells on Friday attacked an oil field in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, setting one of the wells on fire, a conflict monitor reported. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that “ISIS cells attacked one of the oil wells in Al-Sabhan oil field in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor, where they burned it, before fleeing to an unknown destination.”
ISIS has increased its attacks in Syria in recent weeks, particularly in the vast expanses of desert where the group launches surprise attacks amid a security vacuum.
No casualties have been reported, according to the watchdog.
The Arab-majority province of Deir ez-Zor was where ISIS militants made their last stand in Syria and were territorially defeated. Control of the province, on the Iraqi border, is now split between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian regime, along with its Iranian backers.
It is also home to many of the country’s key oilfields, such as Omar and Conoco, which the US-led global coalition against ISIS helps the SDF protect.
According to SOHR data, ISIS has conducted 124 operations in the areas controlled by the SDF, killing 63 individuals, including 11 civilians.
SDF arrests senior ISIS member in Raqqa
5/25
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Saturday announced they had arrested a senior Islamic State (ISIS) member in Raqqa earlier in the week.
On May 21, the Military Operations Teams (MOT) of our SDF forces conducted a precise and special security operation targeting one of the key leaders of ISIS cells in the northern countryside of Raqqa, known as Ayman Abdel Moati, aka Yacoub Al-Hadidi or Osama Al-Qurashi,” the SDF said in a statement.
Moati was the terror group’s “military official in Raqqa and the planner of all terrorist acts in Raqqa and its countryside, including bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and intimidation of civilians,” according to the SDF.
His personal documents and mobile phones, along with a variety of ammunition, were also seized during the operation.
On Tuesday, the SDF had said it arrested two “dangerous” ISIS leaders in Qamishli and Raqqa.
UK repatriates four ISIS-linked nationals from Rojava
5/24
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava) this week handed over a British woman and three children affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) to a visiting delegation from the United Kingdom.
A British woman and three children linked with ISIS were handed over to the delegation on Wednesday, the statement added, without identifying the four people or clarifying where they were held before their repatriation. The Associated Press reported that they were last detained at Roj camp.
The British government has yet to comment on the rare repatriation of its nationals from Syria.
Thousands of people from around the world affiliated with ISIS live in camps in Rojava, the largest of which is the sprawling al-Hol camp that has more than 40,000 residents. The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the ISIS-linked people held at al-Hol. Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said in March that around 20,000 Iraqis below the age of 18 are still at al-Hol.
Earlier this month, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and Finland repatriated a total of 22 of their citizens.
Two ‘dangerous’ ISIS leaders captured in Rojava: SDF
5/22
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Tuesday the arrest of two “dangerous” Islamic State (ISIS) leaders during security operations in the cities of Qamishli and Raqqa.
“The Military Operations Teams (MOT) of our SDF forces have conducted two precise security operations that resulted in capturing two ISIS leaders in the cities of Qamishlo and Raqqa,” read a statement from the SDF.
The two leaders were identified as Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qurashi, going under the alias of Abu Moaz al-Kurdi, and Ahmed Thamer al-Muhammad. Quashi was arrested in Qamishli, and Muhammad was arrested in Raqqa.
According to the statement, Qurashi was involved in an explosive car attack in the al-Shuhail town in Deir ez-Zor.