SDF Warns Of ISIS Increasing Activity In NE Syria

Hawl Military Council, a military formation affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), warned on Wednesday against increasing activity of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) in tandem with Turkish military escalation.

“Any Turkish attack energizes ISIS again,” said Khaled Issa, leader of the Hawl Military Council.

On Tuesday, Spokesman for the Commander in Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Major General Yahya Rasoul, said that Hawl Camp, northeast Syria, is a nuclear bomb, calling on international community to address this “serious” issue.

ISIS activity inside the Hawl Camp has increased, exploiting Turkish attacks on Tel Tamr and Zirgan (Abu Rasi) north of Hasakah, according to Issa.

Turkey has escalated its attacks on areas in north and northeast Syria, using artillery and drones following Tehran Summit, in which Turkey failed to obtain a green light by Iran and Russia to invade the region.

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.

Hawl Camp, 45 km east of the city of Hasakah, is a house for 55.829 individuals, including 28.725 Iraqis, 18.850 Syrians and 8.254 of foreign nationalities, according to the latest statistics obtained by North Press.

The camp witnesses murders with different methods, most notably firearms. The management of the camp fears that the latest Turkish threats of invading areas in northern Syria would pave the way for ISIS to reorganize its ranks; North Press cited a statement by the management as saying.

Since the beginning of 2022, the camp’s management has registered 29 murder cases for 12 Syrians, among them a paramedic for the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC), 14 Iraqi refugees who constitute more than half of the camp’s population, 3 unidentified bodies, and 15 failed attempted murders.

Issa stressed that killing attempts by unidentified individuals have developed to field executions in the camp.

Earlier in July, Militants of the ISIS executed a woman in the fourth sector, designated for Syrian IDPs, after they slaughtered her husband on the first day of Eid al-Adha on July 9.

After killing the woman, the ISIS militants shouted slogans, threatening to kill everyone collaborates with the SDF or organizations that operate in the camp.



PUKmedia/North Press