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A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 12 February 2022
U.S.-allied Syria Kurdish commander warns of growing IS threat

By HOGIR AL ABDO sume responsibility for the
Associated Press thousands of foreign IS
HASSAKEH, Syria (AP) — fighters held in prisons and
The Islamic State group is camps overseen by the Syr-
a growing threat in north- ian Kurdish-led forces.
eastern Syria despite the Abdo said searches are
killing of its leader in a U.S. now underway in 27 deten-
commando operation last tion facilities housing IS de-
week, says the chief com- tainees to identify security
mander of the U.S.-allied weaknesses. Three prisons
Syrian Kurdish-led force. have been emptied, their
Mazloum Abdi, who heads inmates scattered to differ-
the U.S.-backed Syr- ent facilities.
ian Democratic Forces, Abdi declined to name the
warned that IS fighters are facilities, but said two were
still very much present in close to the Turkish fron-
the wake of a deadly at- tier, where bombardment
tack by the militants on a is frequent. Another was
Syrian prison last month. found to have similar short-
That attack killed 121 fight- comings as in Gweiran, he
ers from the Syrian Kurdish- added.
led force, he added. The prison attack also
“We are surrounded by the shone a light on the hun-
Islamic State,” Abdi said in General Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, speaks dreds of minors — a mix of
a wide-ranging interview during an interview with the Associated Press in Hassakeh, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. different nationalities and
Associated Press
with The Associated Press backgrounds — who had
on Thursday night. “We dead on both sides until the logistics for the U.S., but did Iraq. been holed up in the pris-
have said this many times. SDF brought the situation not participate with fighters “We didn’t execute our on along with hardened IS
If we don’t strive to fight under control eventually. on the ground. responsibilities well,” Abdi adult detainees. The teens
IS now, they will spread Abdi said immediate secu- “We provided safety and says. have since been moved
again.” rity measures were taken security for personnel who His fighters last year twice to a new facility, separate
A tenuous calm has pre- to contain IS sleeper cells went in, that’s all I can say,” got intelligence that IS from adults, but the condi-
vailed in the region since after the assault: faulty de- he said. sleeper cells were planning tions of their detention was
IS’s spectacular Jan. 20 at- tention centers prone to While IS morale may have to attack the prison, locat- criticized and described as
tack on Gweiran Prison, or similar attacks have been taken a hit with al-Quray- ed in Hassakeh province, “dire” in a recent visit by
al-Sinaa — a Kurdish-run emptied, security sweeps shi’s death, Abdi said he did to free their comrades in- Bo Viktor Nylund, UNICEF’s
facility in Syria’s northeast are ongoing and curfews not believe it would lead to side. One attack was even Syria representative.
where over 3,000 IS militants limit night-time movements. the group’s decline. thwarted. Some of the boys were chil-
and young boys, mainly But, the threat remains, he He said he shared blame “There was intelligence dren when their parents
sons of IS fighters, were warned. for the prison attack — the before that they wanted plucked them from their
held. The SDF assisted in the biggest and bloodiest since to attack, and we took own countries after they
The attack on the prison U.S. operation that killed IS lost the last sliver of terri- procedures, but then we decided to join IS, others
led to 10 days of fighting IS leader Abu Ibrahim al- tory it held in Syria in 2019, failed,” he said. were born in Syria. Many
between U.S.-backed Syr- Qurayshi in the northwest- marking the end of its self- But he also blamed the attended IS-run schools
ian Kurdish fighters and IS ern Idlib region last week declared “caliphate” over international community, where they were trained
militants that left nearly 500 by facilitating passage and large parts of Syria and which he says should as- for combat.q

U.N. labor agency cites concerns

about China’s Xinjiang region

about how it’s respecting were urged to improve sensationalize the so-called
their rights. The report from workplace and job condi- “forced labor” issue in Xinji-
an International Labor Or- tions. ang on various occasions,’
ganization committee of The 20-member commit- adding that this is ‘nothing
experts tasked with helping tee of independent inter- but a downright lie, a dirty
countries uphold their own national experts cited the trick with ulterior motives,’”
international commitments Chinese government’s the International Labor
emphasized the labor rights defense, given in a differ- Organization document
Uyghurs and other members of the faithful pray during services aspect of China’s policies ent report, of what it calls states.
at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang in the western Chinese re- vocational training centers “The committee is bound
Uyghur Autonomous Region, as seen during a government gion. Advocacy groups in Xinjiang. Beijing says the to observe, however, that
organized visit for foreign journalists on April 19, 2021. and Western govern- centers are intended to the employment situa-
Associated Press
ments, among others, have help improve economic tion of Uyghurs and other
By JAMEY KEATEN Muslim minorities in China’s voiced human rights con- conditions and defuse ex- Muslim minorities in China
Associated Press Xinjiang region, noting signs cerns over the treatment of tremist violence in the re- provides numerous indica-
GENEVA (AP) — An annual of “coercive measures” the region’s Muslims. gion. tions of coercive measures,
report from the United Na- that deprive workers of free The 870-page report also “The committee takes due many of which arise from
tions labor agency Friday choice in selecting jobs. chronicled an array of note of the view expressed regulatory and policy doc-
highlighted the work condi- It also called on Beijing to concerns about scores in the government’s report uments,” the ILO experts
tions of Uyghurs and other provide more information of countries that in effect that ‘some forces recklessly wrote. q