The Telegraph
The sleeping cells of the Islamic State are blamed for a series of beheadings in the Syrian camp
According to a research group in northeastern Syria, twenty people were killed in a Syrian displacement camp in January – including ten who were decapitated – with guards suspecting the Islamic State’s sleeping cells. The 20 Iraqis and Syrians killed in the Al-Hol camp in January included a guard from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that maintains the detention facility, according to the Rojava Information Center, which estimated 35 people died in the camp in 2020. Camp authorities, struggling to set up security even in the vicinity of the camp, believe most of the deaths were the work of Islamic State assassins operating in Al-Hol. “The details of the attackers are unknown. Most executions take place at night in the victims’ tent or shelter,” said Charles Flynn, a RIC researcher. ‘Not all murders can be [attributed] to ISIS, as some deaths in the past have been linked to feuds or differences of opinion in the camps, ”he added. One of the most beautiful of the recent killings on Al-Hol was an Iraqi elder apparently beheaded in the camp on January 16. “The victim’s head has been completely removed,” said Mr Flynn, who reviewed photos of the incident. Local media reports indicate that the killed guard was part of a security detail on which a shot was fired by unknown shooters in the camp on January 8. A second guard was apparently wounded in the attack. The RIC said local media reports and SDF statements formed the basis of its version, which was partially confirmed by the United Nations, which warned on January 16 about the deteriorating situation at Al-Hol after reports had surfaced since the report began. over 12 murders were received there. year. “The disturbing events indicate an increasingly unsustainable security environment at Al Hol,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Imran Riza, and the local humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Muhannad Hadi, said in a joint statement at the time. Al-Hol is the largest displacement camp in Syria and holds nearly 62,000 residents in appalling conditions near the Iraqi border. Women and children make up more than 80 percent of the population in the camp, where aid programs say hunger and disease are high due to a lack of clean water and health care. Most residents arrived at the camp in early 2020 after fleeing for the final battles between the Western-backed SDF and IS fighters around the terrorist group’s last piece of land near the city of Baghouz on the Euphrates River. In addition to Iraqis and Syrians, there are reportedly 8,705 third-country nationals in Al-Hol, mostly from former Soviet Central Asian states. In recent years, many Westerners – including high-ranking IS supporters such as the Halane twins from Manchester – have moved from Al-Hol to the much smaller Roj camp, where security is better and living conditions are reportedly better. Al-Hol killings have increased in recent years since IS supporters were able to smuggle firearms into the camp, according to Elizabeth Tsurkov, a non-resident fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy. “The SDF’s grip on the camp is clearly limited – smuggling of people and illicit goods such as weapons, and smuggling of telephones to foreign countries’ attachment, continues,” she said. The Kurdish-led SDF acknowledges that it has struggled to restrict trade and has repeatedly warned of deteriorating conditions and called on foreign governments to take back their citizens. “Attempts are being made to control the camp,” reads a January statement calling for greater support from the international community. On Monday, a group of United Nations human rights activists sent letters to the 57 governments that allegedly have civilians in Al-Hol and Roj camps, urging them to withdraw their citizens. “Thousands of people detained in the camps are being subjected to violence, exploitation, abuse and deprivation in conditions and treatment which may well amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law, with no effective means to their disposal. “An unknown number have already died due to their conditions of detention,” the experts said. ‘States have a primary responsibility to act with the necessary caution and take positive steps and take effective measures to protect individuals in vulnerable situations, especially women and children, who are located outside their area where they are at risk to make serious human rights violations or abuses, where states ‘actions or omissions can have a positive effect on the human rights of these individuals,’ they wrote. Meanwhile, the killings in Al-Hol continued. On Monday, the SDF reported that a 27-year-old Iraqi man and a 20-year-old Syrian man were the latest victims. “Murders continue in the camp,” the SDF said on Twitter.