Five day of security campaign in Al-Hawl camp | Senior leader among 100 ISIS members arrested, including women and officials
SOHR sources from inside the al-Hawl camp in far south-east of al-Hasakeh, say that the Anti-Terrorist Forces carried out an operation on Thursday evening as part of the security campaign in the camp, which resulted in the arrest of eight members of the “Islamic State” of Iraqi nationalities, one of whom is a senior leader called “Abu Karrar.”
The number of ISIS members and collaborators who have been arrested since the start of the campaign on March 28, rose to 96, mostly of non-Syrian nationalities, including senior leader “Abu Karrar” and another Iraqi official, al-Zakat official of an Algerian nationality, and 11 ISIS women who have involved in the killings and securing equipment used in their operations.
The Syrian Observatory would like to point out that many other people, including women, were arrested during the five days of the campaign, but were released after interrogation.
The forces participating in the large-scale security campaign continued taking fingerprints for those aged 15 years and above in order to confirm their identities. The first phase of the security campaign is expected to end in the camp on Friday, with the second phase to be completed in the coming hours and days.
Yesterday, the forces participating in the campaign have announced the arrest of “Mohammed Abdulrahman Sherif Dabbakh” while hiding in Al-Hawl camp. Dabbakh is Algerian and he was the ISIS military Emir in Al-Shaddadi and Al-Raqqah, and he had lost his eye in an earlier military operations. According to the security forces, Dabbakh serves as the ISIS Emir of zakat in Al-Hawl. This development has raised new questions about the ways ISIS commanders and officials used to reach Al-Hawl camp without being detected. How could these commanders and officials enter the camp where they hid, smuggled weapons into the camp and committed murders?! And where were the camp’s guards?!
A few hours ago, SOHR sources reported that communications were cut off to Al-Hawl camp in the far south-eastern region of al-Hasakah, as the security campaign continued in the camp, its surroundings and the town of Al-Hawl for the fifth day in a row by joint forces comprising over 5,000 fighters of Syria Democratic Forces, People’s Protection Units (YPG), Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and Counter-Terrorism Special Units (H.A.T.), with logistical support by American forces.
Meanwhile, search operations for weapons, ammunition and electronic devices continued, while many people were arrested on remand, including women.
Yesterday, the forces participating in the large-scale campaign in Al-Hawl camp announced the arrest of Abu Mohammed Al-Jomaily on March 31. Al-Jomaily was born in 1959 in the Iraqi city of Al-Anbar, and he had worked for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, before he joined ISIS and served as a Sharia Emir (senior sharia commander) and mufti until he hid among the inhabitants of Al-Hawl camp.
The arrest of Al-Jomaily has raised several questions regarding the presence of ISIS officials and commanders for such long time in the camp which is supposed to host refugees, displaced people and families (children and women only) of ISIS members. Then, how could these commanders as well as weapons, ammunition and devices enter the camp?! And why were the forces in charge of the camp not aware of such violations?!
Yesterday, SOHR activists said that the large-security campaign continued in the “Al-Hawl mini-state”, located in the south-eastern countryside of al-Hasaka, for the fourth day in a row by joint forces comprising over 5,000 fighters of Syria Democratic Forces, People’s Protection Units (YPG), Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and Counter-Terrorism Special Units (H.A.T.), with logistical support by the International Coalition forces.
According to Syrian Observatory sources, the joint forces arrested more than 65 people in the first three days, mostly of non-Syrian nationalities, including 29 women, and others were also arrested and soon released after the investigation.
In addition, the joint forces confiscated weapons and equipment from the camp, which has become a “mini-state” in which ISIS cells move freely, amid widespread corruption by the camp’s guards, as many weapons and tunnels were found inside the camp.