AL-HOL: Syrian government forces on Wednesday took full control of a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to the Islamic State group as a truce between the government and Kurdish fighters appears to be holding.
A convoy of armoured vehicles carrying government troops moved into the al-Hol camp on Wednesday following two weeks of clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led fighters who lost large parts of the land that they had controlled for years.
The US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces appear closer than ever to merging into the Syrian military, in accordance with demands by the government.
The capture of the camp came a day after SDF fighters withdrew from the facility that they had been running for years.
At its peak in 2019, some 73,000 people were living at al-Hol camp.
Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens.
The camp is now home to some 24,000, most of them women and children linked to the Islamic State group. They include about 14,500 Syrians and nearly 3,000 Iraqis.
Some 6,500 others, many of them loyal
IS supporters who came from around the world to join the extremist group, are separately held in a highly secured section of the camp.