SDF Kick Off Operation To Hunt Down ISIS Cells Near AL-Hawl Camp In Northeastern Syria (Videos)

On December 29, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) kicked off a large-scale security operation in the northeastern Syrian governorate of al-Hasakah with support from the United States-led coalition.

In a statement, the group said that the operation, codenamed Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt, will cover the area around the infamous al-Hawl camp, the town of Tel Hamees and several other parts of al-Hasakah countryside.

Tens of thousands of ISIS members and their relatives, including foreigners, are held by the SDF at al-Hawl, where security is lacking and the humanitarian situation is bad. The camp is under constant threat from terrorist cells in al-Hasakah. In September, the U.S.-led coalition said that it had foiled an attack on the camp.

In the first 48 hours of Operation Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt, SDF personnel arrested 52 suspected members of ISIS. Some of the suspects were reportedly providing logistic support for ISIS cells in the area, while others were planning to carry out attacks on new year’s eve.

Operation Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt came just a few days after a suicide attack by ISIS cells in Raqqa city that left six members of the SDF dead.

The operation also comes amid threats from Turkey, who launched an air operation against the SDF in November after accusing its core faction, the People’s Protection Units, of staging a bombing in Istanbul. Since then, Ankara has been threatening the Kurdish-led group with a new ground invasion.

While the threat posed by ISIS cells in al-Hasakah is real, Operation Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt may have been launched to strengthen the SDF case as a counter-terrorism force as well as to justify the presence of U.S. forces in northern and eastern Syria for yet another year.

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