Syria Faces New Challenges as Government Shifts
Northeastern Syria is seeing new worries about safety. This comes after the new leaders of Syria took action against Kurdish groups that the U.S. has supported. This situation has even caused the U.S. military to quickly move ISIS prisoners out of Syria and into Iraq.
The U.S. military started moving ISIS prisoners on Wednesday because they were afraid that the confusion could lead to prisoners escaping. So far, about 150 prisoners have been moved from a prison in Hasakah, Syria. The plan is to move up to 7,000 of the roughly 9,000 to 10,000 ISIS prisoners held in Syria.
This action happened after Syria’s new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, told the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to break up. The SDF had been working with the U.S. to fight ISIS. The government’s order came after a quick attack that weakened the SDF.
Syrian government forces have now taken control of some prisons that were previously guarded by the SDF. Syrian officials say that at least 120 ISIS prisoners escaped from the al-Shaddadi prison in Hasakah this week, but many have been caught again. However, U.S. and other officials warn that some escapees are still free.
The safety concerns have also increased around the al-Hol camp. This is a large camp that houses the families of ISIS fighters. Officials have long been concerned that this camp could become a place where people become more extreme.
Kurdish forces have said they will stop watching over the camp because they say the world is not paying enough attention to the ISIS threat.
The SDF said that because the world is not helping enough with the ISIS problem, they had to move their forces from the al-Hol camp to deal with the Syrian government forces.
The camp has about 24,000 people, mostly women and children related to ISIS fighters from different countries. Aid groups say that many of these people have not been charged with any crimes. Humanitarian groups have warned that extremist groups are operating inside the camp.
The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials are thinking about removing the approximately 1,000 American soldiers still in Syria. This raises concerns about whether the U.S. can continue to keep ISIS prisoners secure as local groups change their alliances.
ISIS lost its last area in Syria in 2019 when U.S. forces and the SDF took over the group’s area in Baghouz. Although this ended ISIS’s claim of having a caliphate, officials say that ISIS has been rebuilding as a scattered group, attacking prisons and camps in Syria and Iraq.
Western governments have been carefully supporting al-Sharaa since his forces overthrew Bashar al-Assad. They see this support as a way to maintain security, not as an approval of his past.
U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack has asked Kurdish leaders to make a lasting agreement with the new Syrian government. He emphasized that the U.S. is focused on stopping ISIS from growing stronger again, rather than staying in Syria militarily for a long time.
Barrack stated that the United States does not want to have soldiers in Syria for a long time. He added that the U.S. wants to secure ISIS prisons and help the SDF and the Syrian government talk to each other.
