Women and children, relatives of suspected Islamic State fighters, sit near a wall inside the al-Hol camp, in the desert region of Hasakah province, northeast Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 21. (Credit: AFP)
This marks a significant turning point in Syria’s fight against jihadism: the transitional government is now responsible for Islamic State (IS) prisoners in territories retaken from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last Sunday. The arrangement was made between president Ahmad al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, after the SDF were driven out of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces as well as the outskirts of Hasakah, following a lightning offensive launched by Damascus on Jan.18. The Syrian authorities, themselves from Islamist ranks, have thus become the primary U.S. partner in the fight against IS — a surprising alliance forged more than a decade after the war began, during which the SDF had assumed that role.Sharaa, the wish to expand his control over all the Syrian territory fractured by conflict seems to be gradually...
This marks a significant turning point in Syria’s fight against jihadism: the transitional government is now responsible for Islamic State (IS) prisoners in territories retaken from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last Sunday. The arrangement was made between president Ahmad al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, after the SDF were driven out of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces as well as the outskirts of Hasakah, following a lightning offensive launched by Damascus on Jan.18. The Syrian authorities, themselves from Islamist ranks, have thus become the primary U.S. partner in the fight against IS — a surprising alliance forged more than a decade after the war began, during which the SDF had assumed that role.Sharaa, the wish to expand his control over all the Syrian territory fractured by conflict seems to be gradually...
