The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that militants of ISIS cells, stationed in the Hol (al-Hawl) camp in al southeast Heseke (al-Hasakah) countryside attacked in the early hours of Friday a reception department inside the camp and shot fire randomly at the people. The attack reportedly caused the death of two young men from the Iraqi al-Nabar neighborhood, including the chairman of the Iraqi refugees’ council, and wounded a third person.

Later, ISIS fighters clashed with the internal security forces “Asayish” at their checkpoint where several people in the camp had fled to, said the observatory and noted that this was the first crime in two months in the camp, the last of which was on Sept, 14 and killed an Iraqi female refugee.

SOHR stated that the number of murders committed in the Hol camp since the end of the first phase of the large-scale security campaign has reached 32, which indicates an alarming escalation of killings in the camp.

Accordingly, the number of murders documented by SOHR in the camp since the beginning of 2021 has risen to 71; 13 murders in January, ten in February, 17 in March, one in April, six in May, six in June, six in July, eight in August and three in September. These murders have left 77 people dead, and the breakdown of fatalities in the past seven months was as follows:

• Two members of the Internal Security Forces (Asayish).
• 57 Iraqi refugees, including three children and 16 women.
• 18 Syrian people, including two children, five women and the head of the “Syrian Council” in the camp.
• A gunman of a cell responsible for assassinations and murders in the camp, who was killed when he blew himself up with a grenade just after he had been caught by an Asayish patrol which was pursuing him.