HASAKAH, Syria – Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday they had arrested a suspected ISIS operative inside the al-Hol displacement camp in northeastern Syria.
In a statement published on its website, the SDF said its anti-terror units, known as TOL, carried out a joint operation with the U.S.-led international coalition on Saturday that led to the arrest of Saleh Ali Ali, an Iraqi national allegedly operating under the aliases “Abu Khair Allah” and “Abu Awab.”
According to the SDF, the suspect previously fought against the Iraqi army during ISIS’s control over parts of Iraq. After the group’s territorial defeat there, he reportedly fled to Syria and entered al-Hol camp posing as a refugee.
The SDF said Ali resumed activities for the group inside the camp, working as a security agent tasked with recruiting young people and collecting information about camp movements and ISIS cells.
Al-Hol camp, located near the Iraqi border, houses tens of thousands of people, including families of suspected ISIS fighters. The camp has been a long-standing security concern, with U.N. officials warning of deteriorating conditions and radicalization risks.
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o pursuing ISIS remnants and dismantling the environment that allows them to operate.”
Just days earlier, two SDF fighters were killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen on a water tanker near the town of Hajin in Deir Ezzor province. Another attack reportedly targeted the home of an internal security member in central Syria, leaving him dead.
The SDF has conducted frequent raids in al-Hol, citing ongoing threats posed by ISIS sleeper cells within the camp.
