Syrian military accuses Kurdish forces of allowing IS-linked detainees to escape

Residents wave a Syrian flag atop a toppled statue of a female Kurdish fighter earlier this January, after the takeover of the town by Syrian government forces from US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Tabqa, eastern Syria. Picture: AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed.

The Syrian military has claimed that guards from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had abandoned a camp in north-east Syria housing thousands of people linked to the so-called Islamic State group, allowing the detainees to escape.

The al-Hol camp houses mainly women and children who are family members of IS members or accused of being otherwise affiliated with the group.