DERIK, Syria (North Press) – Only 300 meters from Roj Camp, where women and children of Islamic State Organization (ISIS) members reside, Midya Baker lives in her house in the village of Tel Aswad in the countryside of Derik, in the far northeast Syria.
The near camp causes her and other villagers constant fears in case family members of the ISIS manage to escape the camp, exploiting recent Turkish threats to invade Syria’s north.
On May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his threats to launch a military operation on northern Syria, to complete the so-called remained portions of “safe zone” plan along Turkey’s southern border.
“We are so afraid of it [Roj Camp], in light of the recent Turkish threats to target the region,” she said.
“If Turkey attacks the region, they will be able to escape and spread in our areas and commit mass massacres against us,” she added.
The residents of Derik and its countryside, as well as all regions of northeastern Syria, voice concern that in case Turkey launches a new military operation in the region, this will give the ISIS prisoners and camps’ residents of ISIS family members in Roj and Hawl camps an opportunity to escape.
Hundreds of ISIS women and children have lived in Roj Camp since the military defeat of ISIS in Syria.
The camp is a house for about 806 families, numbering 2.800 individuals mostly women and children. They hail from 62 Arabic and western countries that refuse to repatriate them.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with the support of the US-led Global Coalition defeated ISIS after fierce battles in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, bringing an end to the so-called caliphate declared by the terrorist ISIS in 2014.
After Baghouz, thousands of ISIS fighters were transferred to prisons, while their families were transferred to Hawl and Roj camps in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)-held areas.
Issue of the family members of the ISIS held in camps in northeast Syria constitutes an ongoing challenge for the non-internationally recognized AANES, which repeatedly demands that the concerned countries repatriate their nationals.
Also, the AANES calls on the international powers to provide support for establishing rehabilitation centers and help in tackling the security situation in the facilities were ISIS foreign nationals are held.
Despite repeated calls, the majority of countries, including those participating in the Global coalition, refuse to repatriate their nationals.
Waiting for Turkish attack to escape
According to the administration of Roj Camp, women of the ISIS members keep trying to escape from the camp by communicating with smugglers, as all these attempts have been thwarted.
The administration stressed that 80% of the women are waiting for Turkey to launch an attack on the area, so they can manage to flee the camp, reorganize themselves and join ISIS.
In early 2020, a woman of foreign nationality managed to escape from the camp, while the other escape attempts were foiled, according to the camp administration.
In 2021, the camp witnessed two riots, as women attacked security forces in the camp and threw stones at them and at the camp’s employees, calling for disclosing their fate and sending them to their countries.
At the time, some women shouted, “Erdogan got us out of the camp,” the camp administration told North Press.
The camp’s administration warns of the increasing activity of ISIS women in the camp by either attempting to flee or engage in riots in tandem with the latest Turkish threats.
According to the camp residents, there are distinction between the hard-line women of ISIS and those who have abandoned the ISIS ideology and are no more committed to implementing its laws and rules.
Unlike the years when they joined the ISIS ranks, some women in Roj Camp appear free of the strict black ISIS dress while others, the majority, are keen to follow the ISIS ideology and abide by its rules.
According to the camp’s administration, some women hide their sons when they become 12 years old so that they are not sent to Houri center for the rehabilitation of children of ISIS in Qamishli countryside.
Houri center was established four years ago in Tel Ma’rouf area, northeast Syria. It is the first center designated for the rehabilitation of the children of ISIS members to help them abandon the extremist ideologies and reintegrate them into civil societies. The center accommodates children aged 12-18 years old.
Demands for moving the camp
Roj Camp is no less dangerous than Hawl Camp, especially since all its residents were brought from the Hawl Camp.
Faced with these risks, the residents of the region call on the US-led Global Coalition and the guarantor countries [Russia and the US] of the ceasefire agreement to prevent Turkey from invading the region.
Following the Turkish incursion in October 2019 against Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye, Turkey signed two ceasefire agreements, one with Russia and the other with the US stipulating ceasing all hostilities and the withdrawal of the SDF 32 km away from the Turkish border.
The SDF did withdrew from the border areas according to the agreement, but Turkey continues targeting the area.
One of the women in the camp that North Press interviewed did not deny that some of them have mobile phones inside the camp.
She said they surf the net and follow what is posted on social media, and they also have their own pages to re-activate their activities.
The woman, who preferred not to reveal her identity or appear in front of the camera, noted, “I am sure that any chaos in the area will create tension in the camp. Some women are ready to escape from the camp and have contact with smugglers outside the camp.”
In the same camp, Umm Ahmad, a Moroccan woman, fears reprisals among the camp’s residents during the Turkish attack, especially by the strictest ones.
Like other residents in Tel Aswad, Wasila Abdulaziz has the same fear of ISIS women in the camp.
“If they manage to escape, they will not have mercy on us,” Abdulaziz said.
She called on international community for protection.
Residents of those villages demand that the Roj Camp is moved to another place far from civilians’ homes in order to protect the civilians of the ISIS women’s risk.