Syria Kurds hunt jihadists in sweep of Al-Hol camp

Kurdish forces said they had arrested dozens of suspects at a camp in Syria housing relatives of Islamic State group members as part of a crackdown on the jihadists.

Al-Hol is the largest camp for displaced people who fled after IS was dislodged from its last scrap of Syrian territory in 2019 by Kurdish-led forces backed by a US-led coalition.

It is still home to more than 56,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis but also including other foreigners linked to the Sunni Muslim extremists.

The camp located in northeastern Syria has grown increasingly volatile this year, with at least 26 people murdered, according to the United Nations.

The sweep launched "aims to arrest IS operatives in the camp who are behind terrorist attacks", said Siyemend Ali of the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia.

So far at least 27 suspects had been detained, he said from Al-Hol.

"Our forces began to dismantle empty tents used by IS during attacks and started registering the names of residents... and collecting their fingerprints," said Ali.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced the start of the operation to clear Al-Hol.

In a statement, the SDF called Al-Hol a "hot bed" for IS jihadists and their supporters, arguing it was a fertile ground for the group to gain new recruits.

The IS group's self-declared caliphate, established from 2014, once stretched across vast parts of Syria and Iraq and administered millions of inhabitants.