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Recent Turkish Infiltration Raises Security Concerns at Syrian Camp

Sirwan Kajjo

   WASHINGTON - A recent Turkish intelligence operation inside a camp
   holding thousands of displaced people, including families of Islamic
   State fighters, exposes serious security vulnerabilities that could
   harm U.S.-backed Syrian forces, officials and experts say.

   Turkish intelligence agents in July infiltrated al-Hol camp in
   northeast Syria to smuggle out a Moldovan woman and her four children,
   Turkish media reported.

   The escape has been confirmed by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
   officials.

   Al-Hol is home to tens of thousands of women and children linked to the
   Islamic State (IS) terror group. The U.S.-backed SDF provides security
   at al-Hol and runs several prisons in northeastern Syria that hold
   about 10,000 IS fighters, including 2,000 foreigners.

   Smuggling networks

   A senior SDF official who requested anonymity said since declaring the
   physical defeat of the ISso-called caliphate in March 2019, many women
   affiliated with the group have been smuggled out of the camp, with some
   taken to Turkey and others to rebel-held areas such as Idlib, in
   northwestern Syria.

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