Iraqi refugee and wife injured in knife attack at Syrian camp: report
An Iraqi refugee and his wife were reportedly injured in a knife attack at the Al Hol camp in northern Syria.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An Iraqi refugee and his wife were reportedly injured in a knife attack at the Al Hol camp in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a British-based war monitor, said on Monday.
SOHR said the attack injured the man’s right shoulder while his wife suffered a wound to her right forearm. The man and his wife were taken to the Kurdish Red Crescent centre at the camp for treatment, it added.
Local media identified the victim as Yasser Abdul Razaq but did not name his wife.
Meanwhile, the Internal Security Forces (Asayish) discovered a makeshift weapon and arrested a few suspects who are now under investigation, the SOHR report added.
The incident is not the first of its kind at the camp. In September 2019, an Iraqi youth was beaten and killed in an alleged attack by Islamic State sympathizers.
Read More: Iraqi youth killed by suspected ISIS members in Syrian displacement camp
Moreover, a Dutch woman who joined the terror group relayed to Kurdistan 24 in March 2019 of many strange incidents at the camp.
“Tents are set on fire; there was a gas explosion,” the woman, Umm Ibrahim, said.
Some analysts believe that unrest at Al Hol is a symbol of the war against the Islamic State’s ideology.
Nicholas A. Heras, Middle East Security Program Manager at the Institute for the Study of War, believes the camp “is emblematic” of challenges such as the terror group’s permanent defeat.
“Many of the families of the ISIS fighters in the camp are still acting as if the would-be Caliphate is alive,” Heras told Kurdistan 24.
“Thousands of children and youth are being raised according to the teachings of ISIS, which means the Caliphate has the potential to regenerate with these families.”
On April 12, SOHR reported the killing of two Asayish members who guarded the Al Hol camp by Islamic State cells on the road to al-Dashishah in the southern countryside of al-Hasakah.
The attack came after security forces at Al Hol foiled a smuggling attempt of nine Turkish women accused of membership to the terror group and their children from the camp. Authorities also arrested a truck driver.
The Al Hol camp was built to house 40,000 individuals but currently holds around 65,000 people, mostly women and children. This includes foreign women with alleged ties to the Islamic State and their children.
There is little agreement on what to do with the camp’s residents. Many nations, notably European Union member states, have shown great reluctance to take back their nationals now at the camp because of fears they may pose a security threat.
The local Kurdish-led self-administration in northern Syria has called on countries to take back their citizens and said that it is ready to facilitate the transit of women and children to their home nations.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
