Invasion raises fears of militants’ prison break

BEIRUT — In the sprawling alHol camp in northeastern Syria, Islamic State wives and widows have set up special courts, stabbed to death at least two people accused of apostasy and wielded knives and pistols in clashes with their Kurdish guards.

Now, as Turkish troops invade northern Syria and the U.S. abandons its Kurdish allies, there are renewed fears of a prison break in the camp that could give new life to the extremist group.

The Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces, who captured much of northeastern Syria from Islamic State with close U.S. military support, are mobilizing to stop the Turkish invasion and say they may not be able to spare enough forces to secure alHol, home to tens of thousands of Islamic Statelinked women and their children, and other detention camps holding more than 10,000 male militants, including some 2,000 foreign fighters.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi, who remains at large, called on his supporters last month to attack the camps and set the detainees free.

Turkey views the Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to the Kurdish insurgency in its southeast. President Trump moved U.S. troops aside over the weekend to allow for the invasion, and said Turkey would take charge of the Islamic State prisoners, including those Western countries refuse to repatriate out of security concerns. The U.S. is also planning to relocate dozens of the most feared Islamic State prisoners to detention facilities in neighboring Iraq, according to Iraqi officials.

The alHol camp is some 30 miles from the Turkish border, outside the “safe zone” Turkey plans to set up in northern Syria. But as the fighting worsens, there is a heightened risk that large numbers of detainees could escape. AlBaghdadi himself was a former prisoner in Iraq, and jail breaks played a major role in the growth of Islamic State after U.S. and Iraqi forces had nearly eliminated an earlier incarnation of the group a decade ago.

Dozens of camp residents attacked an exit gate in an apparent escape attempt before Kurdish security forces brought the situation under control, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said Friday.