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Iraq
Yehia Rasool, Iraq's top military spokesperson, speaking at the Erbil Forum on March 2, 2023. Photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Around 3,000 of Iraq’s most dangerous terrorists are currently in northeast Syria, Iraq's top military spokesperson said on Thursday.
“Around 3,000 of Iraq's most dangerous terrorists are in Hasaka,” Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson for the Iraqi prime minister said during a one on one discussion at Erbil Forum.
Rasool added that around 30,000 other terrorists are imprisoned there as well.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in north and east Syria (Rojava) has kept thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) members prisoners following the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.
ISIS attacked al-Sina’a prison in Hasaka on January 20, 2022 with explosive-laden vehicles and other weapons. This caused over a week of intense clashes between ISIS fighters and the SDF. The prison was retaken by the SDF with the support of the global coalition against ISIS, and the recaptured prisoners were transferred to another prison.
The prison held over 4,000 ISIS prisoners, including minors, before the attack. The forces said that 121 of its fighters, prison guards and civilians as well as 374 ISIS members were killed in the clashes without confirming any alleged escapes.
Hasaka is also home to the notorious al-Hol camp, where families of ISIS members are kept.
Iraqis have made up more than half of the population of al-Hol camp in Rojava’s Hasaka province for years. The camp houses over 50,000 residents, most of which are wives and children of the ISIS fighters.
Residents of the camp were also arrested when the SDF took control of the group's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019.
Speaking of camps like al-Hol where ISIS families are kept, Rasool said that the camps “are an exemplary school to educate new generation of ISIS members that is 10 times more dangerous.”
Iraq has over the past year repatriated over 700 families from al-Hol, most of which are sent through a rehabilitation process in Iraq.
The infamous camp is known for having a strong network with remaining ISIS groups on the loose, and it is often suspected to be an arena for ISIS operations.
SDF forces, in cooperation with the US-led Coalition forces has on several occasions conducted wide security operations in the camp, arresting several ISIS members.
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