How Islamic State returned to haunt civilians in northeast Syria - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Mohammed Hardan

Mohammed Hardan

Feb 22, 2021

TOPSHOT - A masked guard keeps watch as trucks transports Syrians leaving the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp holding relatives of alleged Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria, on November 24, 2020. - A Kurdish official in charge of the region's camps, said 515 people from 120 families were returning to areas in the east of Deir Ezzor province, the first to do so after the Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria vowed to allow thousands of Syrians including the famil — A masked guard keeps watch as trucks transport Syrians leaving the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp holding relatives of alleged Islamic State fighters, Hasakeh governorate, northeastern Syria, Nov. 24, 2020. — Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images

Members of the Deir Ezzor Military Council (DEMC), a coalition of Arab tribes and fighters that belongs to the broader US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, stand in line during an announcement by their leader, Ahmed Abu Khawlah (bottom-C), in the town of Shadadi, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh, on August 25, 2017.
The US-backed Arab and Kurdish fighters said on August 25, 2017 that they would launch an offensive "very soon" to oust the Islamic State (IS) grou

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Women walk between destroyed buildings in the northern Syrian city of Raqa, the former Syrian capital of the Islamic State (IS) group, on December 20, 2020. - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces overran Raqa in 2017, after years of what residents described as IS's brutal rule, which included public beheading and crucifixions. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

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