Four Islamic State detainees fled to Turkey from the Al Hol camp in northeast Syria

The Investigative Journal said it had confirmed the escape of four Islamic State (ISIS) detainees to Turkey from the Al Hol camp in northeast Syria on Dec. 21.

The journal said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the mainly Kurdish group that runs the camp, had confirmed the escape of four Turkish nationals, Hatice Güneş, Hafsa Güneş, Beyza Güneş, and Berire Güneş.

The security situation in Al Hol Camp, which holds more than 68,000 mostly ISIS-linked detainees, is dire as the personnel had to leave to help Kurdish fighters repel attacks by Turkish forces, after Turkey launched a military operation in northeast Syria in October, The Investigative Journal said.

“People try to escape every day, and people do escape every week,” a camp administrator told The Investigative Journal. She said that while a number of the ISIS escapees wanted to settle in Idlib or Deir al-Zor in Syria, most wanted to cross to Turkey.

A journalist living in Turkey told The Investigative Journal that the four women had slipped out of the camp, and with the help of a smuggler, had gone to Manbij and then Jarabulus.

“Jarabulus is occupied by Turkish forces,” the journalist said. “And these women went to the Turkish police there. The Turkish police helped their crossing into Turkey. They are free in Turkey now.”

Source: UPI