US supports efforts to address ISIS detainees, Hawl Camp in NE Syria

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) –  Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy Dana Stroul said that the US Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to maintaining its military presence in Syria to achieve the enduring defeat of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) and address Howl Camp issue.

This came during her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. 

Stroul stressed, “ISIS remains a real and potent threat” though its defeat territorially.

“ISIS maintains continues efforts to rebuild its organization……to regain territorial and social control,” she added.

She highlighted the role of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in preserving pressure on ISIS with the support of the US-led Global Coalition.

She stressed the need for the international community to place more efforts to address “the economic and social conditions that facilitated ISIS’s rise,” in areas liberated from the ISIS.

Speaking of Hawl Camp, Stroul said, “approximately 60,000 displaced persons in al-Hol and al-Roj camps.”

She confirmed that the DoD continues “to work with the SDF to disrupt ISIS activity and networks that threaten the camp’s residents,” and people of northeast Syria.

“The most durable solution to the challenges” at this camp is placed on shoulders of countries of origin to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate…, prosecute their nationals residing in northeast Syria,” she added.

She stressed that the DoD provides “logistical support to countries seeking to bring their nationals home.”

Since Iraqi nationals are the majority residents of the camp, the DoD continues to support the Iraqi government “to accelerate the pace of its repatriation efforts.”