2026-01-28
28 分钟This is The Guardian.
Today, could ISIS fighters escape the prisons and camps of Syria?
So for the last week,
we've been following the battle between Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government forces in northeast Syria.
Will Christu, who covers the Middle East for the Guardian,
was at home in Beirut when the Syrian government launched a lightning strike against the Kurds in the northeast of the country.
All of a sudden,
two major provinces that were under the Kurdish forces' control fell in a number of hours,
and Syrian government forces swept in.
When the new government came into power after the fall of the Assad regime in 2024,
the Kurds, who were backed by the US, controlled almost a quarter of Syria.
And their territory included the prisons and camps,
housing thousands of former IS fighters, women and children.
A few hours later,
we started hearing that Syrian government forces were getting close to Al-Hul camp,
which is the largest camp in the world that houses suspected members of the Islamic State.
And then very quickly after that,
we heard that they had actually entered the camp and they had controlled it.
So we immediately dropped everything and we headed over.
And it was a bit surreal because the last time I'd been there was about a year ago.