Raqqa – North-Press Agency
Ahmed al-Hassan – Zana al-Ali
A woman of an Islamic State (ISIS) family who fled to al-Mahmoudli IDP camp in Tabqah countryside, has revealed how families of ISIS militants who fled the camp of Ein Issa to areas controlled by Turkish-backed armed opposition groups.
The woman told North-Press that the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups attacked Ein Issa camp, located in northern Raqqa, which was inhabited by about 13 thousands displaced people, including the families of members and leaders of the terrorist group of ISIS, after Turkey launched its military invasion in northern Syria on 9 October. Haifa Hussein, a displaced woman from the eastern Syrian city of Albukamal, told North-Press that she stayed in Ein Issa camp for two and a half years, after being displaced from Albukamal. She added that they heard the sounds of shelling, but they did nothing, being accustomed to these sounds in their city, referring to Albukamal.
When the shelling began, women of ISIS militants, who were in tents separated from other civilians’ tents, attacked them and started talking to their husbands via mobile phone to tell them what was happening. “A military vehicle entered the camp and took the group's women to their camp, at a glance the car disappeared, and I didn't see where they went," she said. Haifa expressed her fear when the camp was mixed and the families of the Islamic State militants entered among the civilians, saying: "We could not sleep fearing of them.” She confirmed that those families were paying the motorcycle owners to take them to the northern side of the camp.
On October 13, the Autonomous Administration of northeastern Syria announced that 785 members of the Islamic State's families had fled the Ein Issa IDP camp.