ISIS growing stronger and more organised in Middle East

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Women from Syria arrested

Canadian police on Thursday announced they arrested two women on arrival in the country after their repatriation from camps in northeast Syria

Ammara Amjad and Dure Ahmed were arrested on their arrival in Montreal and police are seeking a terrorism peace bond for the women. They appeared for a bail hearing via videoconference and remain in custody until their next court appearance on Tuesday. Under a terrorism peace bond, a defendant could face a prison sentence or make a deal for good behaviour.

"The success of this investigation can be attributed to the strength of our policing partnerships. The RCMP stands fast against support to terrorism, including support to groups such as ISIS [Islamic State], and remains committed to the safety of all Canadians," Chief Superintendent Matt Peggs of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a press release.

Canada repatriated 14 Canadians from Syria on Wednesday - four women and 10 children. The women and children had been held at camps for ISIS affiliates in northeast Syria.

Ottawa has resisted repatriating its nationals from Syria, citing insecurity in the region and security risks the ISIS-affiliates pose. The group of 14 was part of a federal court case against the government, which struck a deal, agreeing to repatriate six women and 13 children.

The women’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said he worked for three years to get the government to bring them home.

"What it demonstrates is that Canada has the ability to repatriate these women and children and then deal with any concerns that they have through the Canadian justice system, which is the way it should be," said Greenspon, CBC news reported.

Five Canadians did not show up for the repatriation flight, according to the lawyer.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control northeast Syria, fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the terror group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and took the group’s last stronghold in Syria in 2019. The women and children now live in northeast Syria’s al-Hol and Roj camps, where human rights groups say conditions are “filthy,” “often inhumane,” and “life-threatening.”

The SDF have repeatedly called on foreign governments to take responsibility for their nationals.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/07042023

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Peshmerga repel ISIS attack

Kurdish forces repelled an Islamic State (ISIS) attack on their forces Friday night about 50 kilometres southwest of Erbil

At 11:30pm, “Daesh [ISIS] attacked one of the Peshmerga 18th Infantry Brigade barricade in Ala village in the foothills of Mount Qarachogh,” the Peshmerga ministry tweeted Saturday.

The Peshmerga repelled the attack and suffered no casualties or injures, the ministry added.

Mount Qarachogh in the Makhmour area is located within an area where there is a security vacuum between the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi federal forces. ISIS has taken advantage of the situation in the past to move around, harass local residents, and carry out attacks.

It is one of the areas where a joint Peshmerga-Iraqi brigade could be based. Prior to Iraq’s 2021 elections, Erbil and Baghdad were discussing establishing several joint brigades in the disputed areas. Talks were postponed because of the vote. The draft federal budget currently before the parliament includes funds for two joint brigades.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/080420232

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Arrest of ISIS facilitator
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US Military Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday confirmed ISIS facilitator Hudayfah al Yemeni, along with two of his assistants, were arrested in an air drop operation in eastern Syria on April 8.

U.S. Central Command forces conducted a helicopter raid in eastern Syria late on the evening of April 8, capturing Hudayfah al Yemeni, an ISIS attack facilitator, and two of his associates. https://t.co/sDQMU0omu8 pic.twitter.com/duyJ8LuRfx
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 12, 2023

The UK Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) noted that al Yemeni, in particular, is known for his involvement in facilitating attacks by the terrorist group.

The Pentagon said that the capture of al Yemeni and his associates will disrupt the organization's ability to plot and carry out operations.

“Operations against ISIS are important for the security and stability of the region,” said Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesperson, in a press release.

“ISIS remains a threat to the region and beyond – the group retains the capability to conduct operations in Iraq and Syria with a desire to strike beyond the Middle East, and its vile ideology remains a threat. Operations such as this one reaffirms our commitment to the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

The operation underscores the continued efforts of various military and anti-terrorism forces to eliminate the ISIS threat in the region.

According to the Syria-based Rojava Information Centre (RIC), ISIS carried out 20 attacks in March, five of which were claimed by the terrorist group.

US CENTCOM on April 4 said in a statement that the US carried out 9 partnered operations in Syria in March, killing two ISIS members, and arresting 11 ISIS operatives.

Moreover, 28 partnered operations were carried out in Iraq, in which 7 ISIS suspects were killed, and 7 detained.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... -operation

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ISIS kill truffle pickers

ISIS militants killed 30 civilians who were collecting truffles in the Syrian province of Hama, Syrian newspaper Al Watan reported on Sunday, citing sources

The bodies of 26 victims were transported to the hospital, the director of a hospital in the Salamiyah desert told the newspaper.

In a separate incident, four shepherds were killed and two were kidnapped while they were tending sheep in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, during an attack launched by gunmen believed to be affiliated with ISIS cells.

ISIS has been launching several attacks targeting workers in the vast Syrian desert since the truffle harvesting season began in February.

In March, a truck carrying people to collect desert truffles struck a mine planted by ISIS militants. Several mines exploded when the truck was passing by, killing seven people and injuring 63, according to a source.

In February, Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that 53 Syrian civilians who were collecting truffles, were killed in a terrorist attack by ISIS in the southeast of the city of Al-Sukhna, in the eastern countryside of Homs.

It is worth noting that while the value of 1 kilogram of desert truffles is approximately $20, a price considered high, people in Syria keep trying to harvest these truffles despite the risks, due to the difficult economic situation and the 12-year ongoing war.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... yrian-hama

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US killed senior ISIS leader

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed Monday evening that a morning helicopter raid in northern Syria killed a senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader, adding that two other ISIS operatives were also killed in the operation

CENTCOM forces “killed Abd al-Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali, a senior ISIS Syria leader and operational planner responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe,” the force said.

Earlier on Monday, CENTCOM announced that the raid had resulted in the “probable” death of the leader but was unable to provide further details about the operation.

“We know ISIS retains the desire to strike beyond the Middle East,” CENTCOM spokesperson Joe Buccino said. “We are therefore committed to the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

According to the US force, the raid was conducted after intelligence revealed that the terror group planned to abduct officials abroad as bargaining chips for their initiatives.

ISIS rose to power across swathes of Syria in 2014 but it was territorially defeated five years later. Despite the group being devoid of any territorial control, it continues to pose security risks through kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings in the war-torn country.

About a thousand US troops stationed in Syria are part of an international coalition that has mostly fought alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since 2014 to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS.

On Sunday, the coalition announced the arrest of an ISIS operative in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, labeling the operation as a “hindrance” to ISIS activities in the region, after previously announcing the arrest of three ISIS members in eastern Syria on Wednesday.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... /170420231

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8 ISIS sentenced to death

The eight were being held in three different prisons and had been in contact with ISIS prisoners in order to “restructure the organization and plan a prison escape to carry out an organized terrorist project,” according to a statement from the Iraqi judiciary

They confessed to receiving orders from ISIS, the statement added, and were sentenced in accordance with the 2005 anti-terrorism law, which stipulates that anyone who participates in committing a “terrorist act,” as defined by the law, shall be sentenced to death.

Since the rise of ISIS in 2014, thousands of people have been detained across Iraq for suspected links to terrorist groups, including ISIS, while hundreds have been executed. Amnesty International in March reported that at least 20 death sentences have been handed down since Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani assumed office in October.

At least 17 people sentenced to death for terror charges in Iraq were executed in 2021, reported AFP. Amnesty recorded 45 executions in 2019, down from 100 the year before.

The United Nations has criticized Iraq’s trials of ISIS suspects, saying proceedings have not met fair trial standards and raising concerns about allegations of torture.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/18042023

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Closure of IDP camp in Nineveh

The United Nations on Wednesday criticised the recent closure of a camp in Nineveh province, populated by people with alleged affiliation to the Islamic State (ISIS), for lack of adequate notice, calling on Baghdad to ensure the safety of the families

The Iraqi government on Tuesday shut down al-Jada 5 camp in Nineveh province where hundreds of families with alleged ISIS ties lived, giving them a 48-hour notice. This angered many residents, and aid workers told the Associated Press that they were locked out of the camp by the security forces.

“The Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq calls on the Government of Iraq to ensure the safety and well-being of the 342 families who had to depart from the Jeddah 5 IDP camp in Ninewa Governorate following its closure,” said the UN in a statement.

“The humanitarian community is concerned by the impact of the closure of the camp on 18 April by the Government of Iraq, without adequate notification and preparation for the IDPs and the receiving communities,” it added.

The camp housed 342 families of 1,566 people “with almost two third are children,” according to the UN.

Late last month, the government said in a letter to the UN that they would close the camp after two months.

As of Tuesday afternoon most of the families had left the camp, according to AP.

Al-Jada was one of just two camps still open in areas under federal Iraqi control. Refugee and IDP camps based in the Kurdistan Region remain open.

Many of the residents of al-Jada camp were repatriated from Western Kurdistan

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/190420235

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ISIS Plotting Attacks in Europe

Classified U.S. documents were posted to chat groups on the internet by a reserve Air Force technician. That became known early this month, after which the young man responsible was arrested. Major U.S. media have a substantial number of those documents, and as those of particular interest to our readers emerge, Kurdistan24 will be reporting on them

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – According to classified documents leaked online by the young Air Force technician, Jack Teixera, ISIS is still pursuing its most nefarious activities: plotting terrorist attacks, particularly in Europe, while seeking to recover the chemical weapons capability it once had.

ISIS’s Leadership

ISIS’s “central leadership” is “believed to be based in Syria,” The Washington Post said, as it reported on a new set of documents.

There is also a significant ISIS presence in Afghanistan, which Americans call ISIS-K or ISIS-KP—ISIS Khorasan Province. According to a much earlier New York Times report, ISIS-K was founded in 2015 by “disaffected Pakistani Taliban” and “embraces a more violent version of Islam” than the Taliban.

Yet “the extent to which the Afghan chapter coordinates its operation” with the Syrian-based central leadership “is unclear,” the Post stated.

Thus, we do not really know if ISIS in Afghanistan operates at the direction of the ISIS leadership in Syria, or even if one party supports the other. In the extreme, it could be that pretty much all the two groups share is a name.

ISIS’s Plotting

In both Afghanistan and Syria, ISIS is still plotting terror attacks, the leaked documents reveal. The more serious threat, at least at present, appears to come from Syria, where the U.S. has responded with military action.

Indeed, such U.S. military action appears to have accelerated recently. In two separate attacks earlier this month, U.S. forces killed two senior ISIS leaders in northern Syria, who were involved in plotting terror attacks abroad.

A strike on April 4 killed an ISIS leader “responsible for planning ISIS attacks in Europe,” according to a CENTCOM statement.

On April 17, a helicopter raid killed an ISIS “operational planner responsible for planning terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Europe.”

In addition, there was an ISIS plot (which, apparently, never became operational) to kidnap Iraqi diplomats in France or Belgium in order to trade them for the release of some 4,000 ISIS members detained in Iraqi prisons.

ISIS and Chemical Weapons

The leaked documents “reveal persistent effort by [ISIS],” the Post reported, “to obtain expertise for creating chemical weapons.”

Some seven years ago, when ISIS was at its peak, it had that capability. It recruited Salih al-Sabawi, a former Iraqi official and “Russia-trained engineer who had once helped [Saddam Hussein] build his extensive arsenal of chemical weapons,” the Post reported last July.

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Counter-Terrorism Department worked with U.S. officials to uncover that program, which the Post described as “a crash effort aimed at building the biggest arsenal of chemical and, potentially, biological, weapons ever assembled by a terrorist group.”

“Sabawi’s intention” was “to create a large stockpile consisting of multiple types of chemical and biological agents to be used in military campaigns as well as in terrorist attacks against the major cities of Europe,” the Post reported.

Once U.S. officials understood ISIS’s aim, they launched, in 2015, a focused military campaign, targeting ISIS personnel involved in the production of chemical weapons, as well as the facilities for such production.

“By late 2016, all of [ISIS’s] known chemical weapons facilities had been destroyed, and most of its senior operators killed or captured,” the Post reported. “The liberation of Mosul a few months later effectively ended the program’s active phase.”

“Yet,” the Post added, citing two U.S. officials with what now appears to be commendable prescience, “it may not have eliminated the group’s ambitions for chemical and biological weapons.”

And so that does, indeed, appear to be the case.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... al-Weapons

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Progress in Peshmerga Reform

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – The Commander of the anti-ISIS Coalition, Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, speaking to journalists earlier this week, highly praised recent reform within the Peshmerga forces: the creation of two infantry divisions, belonging to neither of the two major Kurdish parties, but falling under the authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs

The origin of the push for such reforms stems from the fight against ISIS, when it invaded Iraq in June 2014. The onslaught precipitated the collapse of the Iraqi Army, which, in the course of its sudden defeat, surrendered its equipment to ISIS, making the terrorist organization even stronger.

In the Kurdistan Region, however, the Peshmerga were able to hold the line against ISIS, with the support of the US-led coalition. Early on, it became apparent that one of the deficiencies was the lack of a unified command structure.

Already by August, the President of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, recognized the problem. He directed the Peshmerga Ministry to address it and place the Kurdish forces under a single, unified command.

This was a serious matter. The fight was not easy. Some2,000 Peshmerga died in combat against ISIS, while another 12,000 were wounded.

In fact, it was not until after the defeat of ISIS, as proclaimed by former Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi in late 2017, that permanent and institutionalized Peshmerga reform emerged as a central issue.

Among other things, it became a key plan in Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s reform program. The anti-ISIS Coalition actively promoted the change as well.

Anti-ISIS Coalition Hails Peshmerga Reform

Maj. Gen. McFarlane, speaking to journalists on Monday, cited the progress that the Coalition has made in the fight against ISIS, as attacks from the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria are significantly less this year than they were a year ago.

Similarly, McFarlane hailed advances in the development of the Coalition’s regional partners. “We’ve also seen progress,” he said, “as partners build the required capacity and capability to sustain the enduring defeat” of ISIS.

“In the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Regional Government established the first two Peshmerga divisions in Kurdistan in early April,” McFarlane continued, describing it as “a key milestone for Peshmerga reform and a significant demonstration of the commitment of our partners to the long-term security and stability of the region.”

McFarlane also discussed the capabilities of local forces, as he responded to a question from Kurdistan 24’s Wladimir van Wilgenburg, the first question McFarlane answered.

Van Wilgenburg asked about the capabilities of local forces fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and McFarlane responded, “I continue to be impressed with the competence and capabilities that our partners continue to demonstrate, specifically with the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces, which include the Peshmerga] and the SDF [Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces] conducting wide-area security operations,” as they continue to keep the pressure on ISIS and “prevent [it] from re-establishing any type of network or effective military effort.”

Van Wilgenburg’s question included a request for an assessment of whether the local partner forces still required support for aspects of their activities or whether they were “capable of conducting operations independently.”

In response, McFarlane emphasized that Coalition forces were not involved in combat, but had an “advise, assist, and enable” mission.

“We continue to focus on those areas of which the ISF requests our support,” which includes “things like ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance],” McFarlane added.

He also explained that the Coalition provided advice in planning and executing operations, most particularly combined arms operations. “We remain committed and will continue to provide any type of enabling or advisory support needed to deliver on this mission and see it completed,” he concluded.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... rga-Reform

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ISIS leader killed in Syria
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that the alleged ISIS leader, Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, was killed in a mission conducted by Turkey's spy agency, MIT, in northern Syria

His announcement comes ahead of the upcoming general and presidential elections in Turkey, scheduled to take place on May 14.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday that a military operation was carried out targeting the Al-Sharqiya Army commander at his headquarters in Jenderes, within the Afrin region.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) also issued a statement confirming that the ISIS leader was killed in Afrin and belonged to the Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya group.

“There is nothing new about this incident except for the end of a mission targeting an ISIS member that had long been protected by Turkish intelligence in Afrin,” the SDF said.

SOHR also noted that Turkish-backed factions harbor high-ranking members of ISIS, who often hide among these groups to exploit the security instability.

Previously, the US had targeted ISIS leaders in Turkish-controlled areas with drone strikes and air raids.

The US in 2021 sanctioned Ahrar al-Sharqiya for integrating numerous former ISIS members into its ranks and for violating the human rights of the Kurds.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... a:-Erdogan

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Anti-ISIS operations in Gwer

Peshmerga forces on Friday carried out two search and clearance operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Gwer town after clashes between villagers and suspected militants

After recent attacks in the area, “we suspected that [ISIS militants] had infiltrated into Peshmerga territories,” read a statement from the Peshmerga ministry.

The Peshmerga carried out search and clearance operations in the vicinity of Gwer district, 50 kilometers west of Erbil. The first operation in the morning lasted three hours and was followed by a second in the afternoon “to further ensure the residents of the area” that they are safe, according to the statement.

The ministry did not mention if any ISIS fighters were arrested or killed.

Abbas Mohammed is a resident of Kapran village. He said that some villagers have spotted four armed men they suspect were ISIS members.

“I personally saw a person running and we shot at him, but he was not hit due to trees,” he told Rudaw’s Behroz Faraidun on Friday, adding that a shepherd was briefly kidnapped and said after his release that the abductors were ISIS members.

The shepherd, aged 16 or 17, was seized by militants who called out to him and grabbed him when he approached. It is unclear how he was released but he was “terrified” after his ordeal, said Asi Ali, another resident of the same Kurdish village.

Some residents have reportedly abandoned their homes.

Gwer is located in an area disputed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It has been a safe haven for ISIS sleeper cells because of the security gap between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces, as well as the rugged landscape. ISIS has taken advantage of the situation to move around, harass local residents, and carry out attacks.

ISIS gunmen killed a resident of Kapran village late last month who was going fishing on a nearby river.

Erbil and Baghdad have discussed establishing joint brigades to secure areas between their forces such as around Gwer. Talks stalled because of elections and a year of political wrangling to form a government, but funds for two joint brigades are included in the draft 2023 budget.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/120520231

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Suspected ISIS leader arrested

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday announced that they had dismantled an alleged Islamic State (ISIS) cell in the countryside of northeast Syria's (Rojava) Hasaka with the support of the global coalition, apprehending the leader of the cell and one of his companions

The SDF accused the detainee of being “directly responsible” for the group’s activities in south of Hasaka and north of Deir ez-Zor, saying he had been actively planning attacks against security forces and civilians and posed a threat to the region’s stability.

“The operation was supported by air surveillance and ground support by the international coalition forces,” said the SDF in a statement, adding that weapons and technical equipment were found at the site of the operation, as well documents confirming the suspect’s affiliation to the militant group.

The US-led coalition is yet to comment on the operation.

At least 13 suspected ISIS operatives were killed in April in operations carried out by the global coalition and local forces in Iraq and Syria, with an additional 28 suspects also arrested during that month, according to a report by the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The coalition said late last month that ISIS activities in Syria and Iraq had significantly decreased since the beginning of the year.

ISIS rose to power in 2014 seizing swathes of land in Iraq and Syria. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019.

Despite no longer controlling any territory, the group continues to pose security risks through kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings in both countries.

Successive leaders of the group have been targeted in their hideouts in Syria. Earlier this months, Turkey announced it had killed suspected ISIS chief Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi during an operation in Jindires, northwest Syria.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/15052023

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Bodies in mass grave

Funerals were held Tuesday in Iraq for 78 people killed by the Islamic State group in 2014 and uncovered in a mass grave, in one of the jihadist group's worst atrocities

DNA testing was used to identify the remains of hundreds of people slain by ISIS after their discovery in 2017 at the grave site on the outskirts of Mosul, in the country's north.

The Sunni Muslim extremists seized a large chunk of Iraq's territory and proclaimed a "caliphate" in 2014, carrying out abductions, beheadings, ethnic cleansing, mass killings and rapes.

In June that year, ISIS members attacked Badush prison and freed Sunni inmates before forcing around 600 mostly Shiite prisoners into a truck, driving them to a ravine and shooting them dead.

Seventy-eight of them were laid to rest on Tuesday in Baghdad and in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, in central Iraq, AFP journalists reported.

"We feel pain and sorrow, but at least we got his remains," Khaled Jabbar said during the funeral procession in Najaf for his cousin, who was among those killed.

In front of Baghdad's Martyr Monument, coffins draped in Iraqi flags were carried on army vehicles and accompanied by a military band.

"About 1,000 prisoners, mostly Shiites, were executed by ISIS members inside the prison and at other sites," according to UN investigators.

The killings were described as "crimes against humanity" by UNITAD, the UN body set up to investigate ISIS crimes in Iraq.

The 78 victims buried on Tuesday were from a group of 605 missing people, said the Iraqi health ministry's forensic director Zaid Ali Abbas.

The first mass grave containing victims from Badush prison was discovered in 2017, with dozens of remains exhumed from it in 2021.

The slow and laborious process of taking DNA samples from victims and families of the missing continues.

ISIS's seizure of Mosul in 2014 helped it to briefly hold roughly one-third of Iraqi territory, and for a time there were real fears of a major attack on the capital Baghdad.

Baghdad declared victory over the jihadists in December 2017, and work to uncover their crimes is still ongoing.

The United Nations estimates ISIS left behind more than 200 mass graves which could contain up to 12,000 bodies.

Authorities in Iraq frequently announce the discovery of mass graves, including some containing ISIS jihadists themselves and others dating from the regime of Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown during the US-led invasion of 2003.

Link to Article - Photos:

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... mass-grave

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ISIS children undergo rehabilitation

For at least four years, thousands of children have been growing up in a camp in northeast Syria housing families of Islamic State group militants, raised in an atmosphere where the group’s radical ideology still circulates and where they have almost no chance for an education

Fearing that a new generation of militants will emerge from al-Hol Camp, the Kurdish officials who govern eastern and northern Syria are experimenting with a rehabilitation program aimed at pulling children out of extremist thought.

It means, however, removing them from their mothers and families for an unknown period of time, a practice that has raised concerns among rights groups. And even if they are deemed rehabilitated, the childrens’ future remains in limbo with their home countries reluctant to take them back.

“If these children stay in the camp, this will lead to the rise of a new generation of extremists who could be more fanatic(al) than those who were before,” said Khaled Remo, co-chair of the Kurdish-led administration’s office of justice and reform affairs.

Recently, an Associated Press team was allowed to visit the Orkesh Center, a rehabilitation facility that opened late last year. It’s home to dozens of young boys taken from al-Hol. Ranging in age between 11 and 18, they represent about 15 different nationalities, including France and Germany.

At Orkesh, boys are taught drawing and music, all with the theme of tolerance. They also learn skills for future jobs like a tailor or a barber. They wake up early and have breakfast at 7 a.m., then have classes until 3 p.m., after which they can play soccer and basketball. They live in dormitory-type rooms, where they are expected to keep order and their beds made. They are allowed contact with parents and siblings.

Authorities did not permit the AP to speak to the boys at the center, citing privacy concerns. During a separate visit to al-Hol, residents were hostile, and none agreed to be interviewed. The AP also approached families that were released from al-Hol, but none responded to requests for comment. The newness of the program makes it difficult to assess its effectiveness.

Still, the center underscores how U.S.-backed Kurdish authorities are wrestling with the legacy of Islamic State, years after the group was defeated in a brutal war in Syria and Iraq that ended in 2019.

Al-Hol Camp is an open wound left by that conflict. The camp holds about 51,000 people, the vast majority women and children, including the wives, widows and other family members of IS militants. Most are Syrians and Iraqis. But there are also around 8,000 women and children from 60 other nationalities who live in a part of the camp known as the Annex. They are generally considered the most die-hard IS supporters among the camp residents.

The camp population is down from its height of 73,000 people, mostly because of Syrians and Iraqis who were allowed to go home. But other countries have largely balked at taking back their nationals, who traveled to join IS after the radical group seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Though Kurdish-led security forces run the camp, they have struggled to keep control. IS radicalism remains rife, with fervent followers intimidating others, particularly in the Annex, home to more than 5,000 children.

Children in al-Hol have little to do and little chance for education. Fewer than half the 25,000 children in the camp attend reading and writing classes at its teaching centers.

During a recent tour by the AP inside al-Hol, some young boys threw stones at the reporters. One drew a finger across his throat in a beheading motion as he looked at the journalists.

“Those kids once they reach the age of 12, they could become dangerous and could kill and beat up others,” the camp’s director Jihan Hanan told the AP.

“So we had a choice, which is to put them at rehabilitation centers and keep them away from the extreme ideology that their mothers carry,” she said.

Sheikhmous Ahmad, a Kurdish official overseeing camps for displaced people, said that once the boys turn 13, ISIS loyalists make them get married to young girls — another reason for removing them.

So far, the number of children going through rehabilitation is small, around 300, all of them boys from the Annex. Ninety-seven are at the recently-launched Orkesh Center, near the border town of Qamishli about a two-hour drive from al-Hol. The rest are at al-Houri, another center that began taking in boys for rehabilitation in 2017, as U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces took back territory from ISIS in Syria.

Al-Houri underscores the long-term problem: Some of the boys have been at the center for years since there is nowhere else to go. The only alternative would be to send them back to al-Hol. Only four children have been repatriated from al-Houri, administrators said.

“While the transfer of these boys to separate detention centers may be well-intentioned, this is not rehabilitation. This is indefinite detention without charge of children, who are themselves victims of ISIS,” said Letta Tayler, associate director of the Crisis and Conflict Division at Human Rights Watch.

She said removal from the family may be appropriate if the mother or another relative is victimizing the child. Otherwise, separation could cause further trauma.

“For many of these children, who have survived unimaginable horrors under ISIS and in the camps where they have been held since the fall of ISIS, the mother and other family members are their only source of stability,” she said.

Kathryn Achilles, media director of the Syria Response Office at Save the Children International, said separation from the mother “should only ever be as a last resort, addressed by individual countries after families return, in line with their laws.”

Hanan, the administrator of al-Hol, said they had few other options. One proposal is to set up rehabilitation centers in or near the camp, she said.

“Maybe in the future we can agree on something with international organizations regarding such centers as they are the best solution for these children,” Hanan said.

But Kurdish officials and humanitarian agencies agree that the only real solution is for home countries to take back their citizens.

“Once home, children and other victims of ISIS can be offered rehabilitation and reintegration. Adults can be monitored or prosecuted as appropriate,” said Tayler of Human Rights Watch.

The U.N.-backed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria called in March for repatriation to be sped up. It added that the suffering inflicted on the camp’s residents “may amount to the war crime of committing outrages on personal dignity.”

Until a solution is found, the centers create “an environment that is suitable to pave the way for mental change for these children,” said Remo, the Kurdish official.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... -uncertain

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US to target places in Syria

Direct control of such operations is conducted from the US Al-Tanf military base where "dozens of Islamic State (banned in Russia for terrorism) militants are being trained."

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported on Tuesday that the US is planning on targeting crowded places and government institutions in Syria through terrorist attacks.

"As a habitual tool for the implementation of their subversive plans [in Syria], the US intelligence services again intend to use Islamic extremists," the SVR said in its statement, adding that "crowded places, shops, and government agencies are among the priority targets."

Direct control of such operations is conducted from the US Al-Tanf military base where "dozens of Islamic State (banned in Russia for terrorism) militants are being trained," according to the SVR.

It also confirmed that US special services are mainly coordinating their attacks in the southern provinces of Al-Suwayda and Daraa. That said, a strategically important highway between the cities of Palmyra and Deir Ezzor is also a US military target.

Since ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, many analysts argued that the reason why the US remains stationed in Syrian territory has been left unclear. The US frequently loots oil from Syrian gas fields and transports them to other occupation bases in Iraq via illegal crossings.

The US has for long employed the alleged "ISIS threat" as a pretext to continue its illegal occupation of northeastern Syrian territories.

In early March, the US House of Representatives voted against legislation instructing Biden to end the US occupation of the Syrian Al-Tanf region and remove approximately 900 troops.

Currently, the US army and other foreign forces, participating in the so-called "International Coalition", occupy no less than 28 illegal military sites in Syria, distributed over three governorates: Al-Hasakah (17 sites), Deir Ezzor (nine sites), and Homs (two sites).

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