MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2022) The Kurdish-led authorities are holding more than 42,400 foreigners with suspected links to the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) in camps and prisons in northeast Syria in life-threatening conditions, a prominent international human rights organization said on Thursday, adding that the recent Turkish attacks compounded the danger.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), children drown in sewage pits, die in tent fires and people die from treatable illnesses.
"Turkey's attacks highlight the urgent need for all governments to help end the unlawful detention of their nationals in northeast Syria, allowing all to come home and prosecuting adults as warranted," Associate Director in the HRW Crisis and Conflict Division Letta Tayler said.
The director added that "for every person brought home, about seven remain in unconscionable conditions, and most are children."
During a trip to northeastern Syria in May, the NGO found that the detainees lacked medical care, clean water, shelter, education and recreation. Interviewed mothers said they hid their children in tents to protect them from sexual predators and camp guards, as well as IS recruiters and killers.
HRW emphasized that none of the detained foreigners have been brought before a judicial authority to determine the necessity and legality of their detention, making it "arbitrary and unlawful."
Since November 20, Turkey has been conducting an air operation against militant bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and, as Ankara believes, its armed wing, the People's Defense Units, both designated by Turkey as terrorist, in northern Syria. On November 23, eight militants from the Syrian Democratic Forces were killed in Turkish air strikes on the al-Hol camp in the Al Hasakah province in northeastern Syria, controlled by Kurdish militia. According to the United Nations, more than 55,000 members of IS militants' families, primarily women and children, live in the camp.
