SILVA IBRAHIM

Hasakah- The Internal Security Forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Women’s Defense Units (YPJ) launched a large-scale security operation in al-Hol camp against ISIS sleeper cells on April 18, arresting 20 ISIS members, including women, finding weapons and many other ammunition used by ISIS.

“Thousands of children in the camp have been raised with the ideology of ISIS,” Jiyan Hanan, Co-chair of the camp, told NuJINHA. “These children pose a threat not only to the region but also the whole world because they grew up in an unhealthy and radical environment. Due to the lack of an effective rehabilitation program in the camp, children become victims of their families' ideology. They tend to inflict extreme violence against aid teams or anyone else who approaches them.”

The women’s section, where families of foreign ISIS members stay, is the most radical section in the camp, Jiyan Hanan emphasized, calling on countries to repatriate the children of ISIS members. “Every country must take responsibility for children of their citizens, rehabilitate them and reintegrate them into society through rehabilitation programs,” Jiyan Hanan said, calling on the international community to take responsibility for the children of ISIS members in the camp.

In 2021, an important victory was achieved against ISIS in the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel that began on February 9, 2019 as part of the Deir ez-Zor campaign against ISIS. After the offensive, the wives of ISIS members from Baghuz were settled in the women’s section at the camp and ISIS members arrested during the offensive were taken to Sina'a prison in Hasakah.

‘Teenagers are sexually abused by women members of ISIS’

The youngest children in the camp are expected to be five years old; however, there are many children under the age of five in the camp, raising the question about how ISIS women become pregnant in the camp. According to information obtained by NuJINHA, some women members of ISIS sexually abuse teenage boys in order to increase the number of children for the resurrection of ISIS.

Jiyan Hanan also commented on the situation of Syrians living in the camp and said, “Since the fall of the Assad regime, we have made great efforts to ensure their return to their homes. This issue will be discussed with the interim government because the presence of these families in the camp poses a threat.”