Asayish announce new security operation in Syria’s Hawl Camp
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish) announced on Thursday launching a second phase of “Humanity and Security” operation in Hawl Camp, northeast Syria, to pursue sleeper cells of Islamic State Organization (ISIS).
In 2021, the Asayish launched the first phase of the operation in response to a call of dignitaries and tribal sheikhs in Hawl countryside to reduce crimes in the camp.
In 2022, ISIS sleeper cells carried out about 43 operations, in which 44 people from the camp’s residents, including 14 women and two children, were executed using silenced pistols, sharp tools and rifles, after torturing the victims and throwing them into sewage canals, the Asayish said in a statement.
The statement added that Hawl Camp, east of Hasakah Governorate, has turned into “a convenient environment for ISIS cells and families through recruitment and inciting propaganda for its free cells in Syria, Iraq and the world.”
Some of the actions carried out by the organization’s cells: about 13 kidnappings, destroying medical and service supplies, removing security barriers that surround the camp, and burning tents, according to the statement.
Controlling the camp was the second target of ISIS militants, as the first target was controlling al-Sina’a prison in Hasakah.
“ISIS tried to open loopholes in a corridor linking the eastern regions of Syria with the Iraqi borders, the Syrian desert, and the Turkish borders,” according to the statement.
The statement linked increasing “terrorist” operations in the camp, with escalated Turkish threats against areas of northeastern Syria.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced plans to carry out another major military cross-border incursion into northern Syria. Erdogan specified his targets in the two northern Syrian cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat.
On July 1, Erdogan said that Ankara’s new military operation in northern Syria could begin at any moment.
“The time has come to clear these lands from the terrorist organizations,” Erdogan threatened during Tehran summit.
Tehran Summit, on July 19, brought together presidents of each of Iran, Russia and Turkey with the Syrian issue and Turkish threats on the top of its agenda.
Evidence, documents and confessions of many of “terrorists” who were arrested confirm that Turkey used all available means, including intelligence and financing, to reach the organization’s cells inside and outside the camp, according to the statement.
“The aim is to attach them to terrorist groups in areas held by Turkey in north Syria, where competent bodies discovered cells of the group hiding among children and women in trenches,” the Asayish noted.
The Asayish noted to the international community’s inaction which contributed to an increase in the dangers posed to the camp’s residents and its outskirts and impedes efforts exerted in the fight against “terror.”
The statement held the international community accountable for the dangers posed by the camp saying, “There is an international disregard to the contacts and finance that connect such terrorist cells with its leader in areas held by Turkey.”