ISIS still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members
Part of the Al-Hol camp in Syria. Photo: Al-Arabiya News
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – UN experts said in a report circulated Monday that the ISIS group still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former strongholds in Syria and Iraq, according to the AP.
The report mentioned that during the first half of 2023, the threat posed by ISIS remained mostly high in conflict zones and low in non-conflict areas.
The report that is directed to the UN Security Council said that the overall situation is dynamic, and despite significant losses in the group’s leadership and reduced activity in Syria and Iraq, the risk of its resurgence remains.
Most of the members ISIS continues to command are fighters, though it has reduced its attacks deliberately to facilitate recruiting and reorganization, the UN experts said in the report.
In northeast Syria, approximately 11,000 suspected ISIS fighters are being held in facilities of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have played a prominent role in the fight against ISIS, according to the report.
The fighters include more than 3,500 Iraqis and approximately 2,000 from almost 70 nationalities, as explained by the report.
Northeast Syria is also the site of two closed camps—Al-Hol and Roj—where the experts said some 55,000 people with alleged links or family ties to ISIS are living in dire conditions and significant humanitarian hardship, the statement added.