ISIS families living in Syria’s largest refugee camp have declared the terror group is ‘ready to rise again’ as guards warned the scourge of Islamic extremism could spread through the Middle East and threaten the West ‘in a matter of days’.
Since the jihadist organisation lost its final stronghold in Syria in 2019, tens of thousands of ISIS fighters and their families have been held in prisons and refugee camps in Rojava – the Kurdish-led autonomous region in northeast Syria.
The largest of them – Camp Al-Hol – holds almost 40,000 people, many of whom are extremist families who go tent to tent, abusing refugees and indoctrinating their children.
Now, the instability following the toppling of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has created fertile ground for a horrifying ISIS resurgence.
Military officials in Rojava told that ongoing clashes between Rojava’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed militias may force camp guards to abandon their posts and head to the frontlines.
If this happens, security at the camp could collapse and Islamic State could stage a breakout.
It comes just weeks after the former head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger said the UK and US must commit to locking down Al-Hol and other ISIS detention centres to prevent a prison break in the ‘hotbed of radicalisation’.
ISIS inmates at the camp are well aware of the opportunity at hand.
Jihadist sleeper cells have launched several attacks on Kurdish authorities in Rojava and in the rest of Syria in recent weeks, while inmates at Al-Hol have gleefully told camp administrators they will soon be liberated and re-establish their brutal caliphate.
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A member of the YPJ presents contraband weapons seized in a raid on an ISIS enclave in Al-Hol refugee camp
A member of Rojava’s Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) performs a search on a suspected member of ISIS during a raid on Al-Hol
Knives, swords, hammers and other makeshift weapons are seen after a raid was conducted on Al-Hol
Knives, explosives, phones and an ISIS headband are seen in this image following a security raid on Al-Hol camp
When the SDF and the US-led international coalition crushed ISIS in 2019, the region’s authorities were confronted with a tidal wave of captured fighters and their extremist families.
The fighters were hustled into old schools and hospitals transformed into penitentiaries, but the under-resourced administration had no choice but to corral tens of thousands of ISIS women and children into Al-Hol camp.
It has since become a self-policing dystopia where extremist gangs spread their doctrine through intimidation and abuse to raise a new generation under their black flag.
Camp authorities conduct regular raids on the camp as ISIS routinely smuggles in weapons, explosives, communications devices and other contraband.
They have also discovered various dugouts and tunnels created by the inmates to move the weapons, or attempt to break out.
Jihan Hanan, one of the chief administrators of Al-Hol, spoke with during a visit to the camp about the threats ISIS families have delivered.
‘They tell us: ‘Soon, we will be liberated from this camp and you will be inside it’,’ she said.
‘They call us pigs and say they’ll round us up. They believe they will get out of the camp and that ISIS will be revived again. The people of this camp are ready… they are ready and waiting for something to happen.’
Security forces go tent to tent searching for ISIS weapons during a raid
Jihan Hanan, one of the chief administrators of Al-Hol camp, told about the threats ISIS families have delivered in recent weeks as they prepare for a potential prison break
A member of the YPJ inspects a tunnel dug at Al-Hol camp by
People walk among shelters at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds refugees as well as the radical families of Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh governorate
Women stand together al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria
In the wake of Assad’s toppling in December, Sir Alex Younger sounded the alarm about the prospect of ISIS rising again.
‘There is a key operational issue for the UK which is going to be driving a lot of our policy which is that the SDF, the Kurdish group, are holding many, many ISIS prisoners and their families who were taken after the end of the caliphate,’ the former head of MI6, who is known as ‘C’, told the BBC.
‘The camps represent a hotbed of radicalisation and haven’t been sorted out. If the SDF were to go off the job, our security situation here would worsen,’ he said, declaring the West must ‘make sure at least the eastern part of Syria remains stable’.
Sir Alex’s warning is not overblown.
The SDF is stretched thin, fighting the Turkish-backed SNA militia in northwestern Syria while preparing for a potential future clash with HTS.
If the conflict escalates, military chiefs will be forced to pull guards away from the camp to fight on the frontlines.
Siyamend Ali, a spokesperson for Rojava’s People’s Protection Units (YPG) that lead the SDF, said this would mean ISIS could stage its resurgence almost overnight.
‘If you’re guarding these camps and you hear that the SNA are going to your city, to murder your family and your people, what are you going to do? Are you going to stay and guard the camp or are you going to leave and protect your family?
‘This is the choice we are faced with, and if Turkey, HTS and the international community do not put this war to an end, we will have no choice but to defend ourselves.
‘If that happens, ISIS could be back in a matter of days,’ he declared.
Rojava’s security forces and YPG members patrol the outside of Al-Hol camp ahead of an operation
Jihan points out Section 6 in Al-Hol, home to the most hardcore, foreign ISIS families
Security forces enter tents of suspected ISIS members for inspection
Jihan and other officials in Rojava are insistent that nations whose people travelled to join ISIS must take responsibility for their citizens now wreaking havoc in Al-Hol – particularly Western countries reluctant to act.
They argue that by abandoning their citizens in Syria and refusing to repatriate them, the governments of these nations are only aiding the terror group to consolidate its influence in the Middle East and prepare for a comeback.
‘We want our partners in the international community, who fought with us against ISIS, to not forget the sacrifices our people made. Because the case of Al-Hol is directly connected to the case of ISIS,’ Jihan said.
‘We call upon all the countries around the world to come and take their citizens. We need logistical and political support from the countries that have citizens here.’
Meanwhile, the SDF, which allied closely with the US to defeat ISIS during Syria’s Civil War, is appealing once again for the West to provide more resources to ensure the extremists can be contained.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the SDF are concerned that US troops could pull out of Syria altogether – a move which would undoubtedly embolden ISIS.
‘The reason for them (US troops) to stay is still present because Daesh is still strong,’ SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said yesterday, using an Arabic acronym to refer to ISIS.
‘We hope that the coalition does not withdraw… We ask them to stay.’
Al-Hol is now home to around 40,000 primarily ISIS-linked women and their children, including almost 7,000 highly-radicalised foreigners.
Authorities know these extremists are receiving orders from jihadist cells outside the camp, waiting for the moment to rise up.
‘There are ISIS members outside and they can communicate with ISIS members inside. We don’t allow (the most extreme section of the camp) to have phones… but somehow they still sneak them in,’ Jihan said.
‘The situation in Syria has changed. The ISIS members consider the mindset (of HTS) is similar, so they say: ‘Come and bring us outside and free us, just how you took over all of Syria.’
‘In their logic, they can take over this region (Rojava) and Al-Hol camp as well.’
An image of a partially mummified woman discovered buried beneath ISIS tents in Al-Hol is seen in this screenshot
An image of a partially mummified woman discovered buried beneath ISIS tents in Al-Hol is seen in this screenshot from a video of the corpse being dug up
A fire erupts inside Al-Hol camp. The refugees living there are often subjected to intimidation and violence by ISIS members
Only a small enclave within the camp – known as Section 6 – is fully separated from the rest of the facility. This area, containing almost 7,000 people, is where hardcore foreigners who travelled from around the world to join ISIS are kept.
But the Asayish, Rojava’s internal security forces, do not have the numbers or resources to conduct proper patrols, so around 33,000 inmates are free to roam around the camp undeterred.
This means there is nothing to prevent ISIS gangs from going tent to tent and terrorising refugees. More than 150 murders have been recorded in the camp since 2019 – an average of more than two per month.
‘Before 2019 the camp was open. It had a council, a committee, people were free to come and go, with visiting allowed,’ Jihan explained.
‘But in 2019 ISIS came and infected the camp, distributed weapons… we had daily murder cases and because of that our security measures changed.
‘We didn’t close it just because we wanted to make it a prison. You don’t do that without reason.’