President Trump’s sweeping government order to halt overseas support threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting safety forces inside a infamous camp within the Syrian desert that holds tens of hundreds of Islamic State members and their households, Syrian and U.S. officers mentioned.
The order has additionally wreaked havoc on one other U.S. group in Syria that was compelled to briefly cease operations contained in the camp, referred to as Al Hol, the place the big focus of ISIS members is seen as a safety risk.
Issues over an ISIS comeback have been rising, with Syria in a state of flux as its new leaders attempt to solidify management over a nation nonetheless fragmented after rebels ousted its authoritarian chief, Bashar al-Assad.
The Trump administration has argued that the funding freeze, set to final for 90 days, was wanted to make sure U.S. funds weren’t being wasted. However its affect highlights the danger posed to operations seen as important to stopping a resurgence of ISIS, a jihadist group that when managed huge swaths of Syria and Iraq and launched lethal assaults in Europe and the US earlier than it was decimated by an American-led worldwide coalition.
American troops nonetheless keep a presence in northeastern Syria, supporting an area U.S. ally, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, within the coalition’s struggle in opposition to ISIS. The S.D.F. not solely controls northeastern Syria, but additionally a constellation of prisons and refugee camps within the territory holding ISIS fighters and their households, who’re largely from Syria and Iraq but additionally dozens of different international locations.
“The Al Hol camp is filled with ISIS remnants,” Jihan Hanan, the camp director and an official within the regional authorities, mentioned in an interview. “Our prisons are stuffed with ISIS fighters. They pose an enormous risk to the individuals of this area. We have been those who fought on the entrance traces in opposition to ISIS. We have been America’s companions. They need to proceed with us to the top — or at the least till we are able to guarantee peace and safety for this area.”
Western safety officers have additionally expressed considerations that any deterioration of management over the camps and prisons might gasoline an ISIS revival within the area and past.
After Mr. Trump’s directive final Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop-work order for all overseas support. That order has halted operations by the U.S. contractor, Proximity Worldwide, which manages a program to coach and equip hundreds of Syrians to behave as a police pressure, and supply them with autos and tools.
One of many firm’s most crucial roles is offering safety inside Al Hol camp, which homes some 39,000 ISIS members, their households and refugees, Ms. Hanan mentioned. Occupied largely by Iraqis and Syrians, the camp additionally comprises foreigners of 42 different nationalities.
“It’s obtained an enormous impact on us,” Ms. Hanan mentioned of the halt to Proximity operations. “They supported inner safety. They provided what was wanted for the camp gates — the technical tools they wanted, safety cameras — all that form of work, they supported that.”
Sustaining safety at Al Hol, in addition to a smaller camp, Al Roj, is seen as a important a part of preserving an ISIS resurgence at bay. The camps are seen as a key goal for ISIS recruitment and operations.
Proximity Worldwide’s contract to help the safety forces ends on Friday, in response to Ms. Hanan and two of this system’s workers, who spoke on situation of anonymity. And since it has been ordered to cease work, it can’t signal a brand new contract with the forces. The corporate has filed for an exemption, the staff mentioned, however had but to obtain a response as of Thursday.
Proximity Worldwide didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Native officers warned that not solely have been such freezes a safety threat, they might additionally undermine Washington’s relationship with its native Kurdish allies earlier than the Trump administration has decided its methods towards Syria and ISIS.
Including to the disarray for the delicate applications is the Trump administration’s obvious reversal of the directive ordering halts to federal funding. The 2 U.S. contractors affected at Al Hol mentioned the transfer didn’t seem to reverse their freeze however that it had added one more layer of confusion to an already unsure state of affairs.
The U.S. State Division defended the overseas support freeze this week, arguing that it could incentivize organizations to supply a radical accounting and justification of American financing of overseas tasks.
The stop-work order additionally briefly halted a Virginia-based nonprofit group’s work final Saturday within the two camps, laying naked the potential for chaos.
The nonprofit, Blumont, handles support distribution, electrical energy and latrines on the camps, and employs safety guards for the camps’ warehouses and provide facilities. It additionally helps handle repatriation operations: Lowering the variety of inhabitants on the camps is seen as important to diminishing the potential for exploitation by ISIS.
Ms. Hanan mentioned when Blumont was ordered at 1 a.m. native time Saturday to cease operations — hours earlier than she and the group have been set to assist repatriate dozens of households to Iraq — the help group instantly withdrew its safety guards and halted distribution of bread and gasoline.
S.D.F. forces rushed in to fill the safety hole, she mentioned, whereas Blumont staff scrambled to stretch their assets to cowl residents’ wants.
It was not till the start of this week that the corporate obtained a two-week waiver to proceed safety and humanitarian support on the camps whereas U.S. administration officers reviewed the help, in response to a Blumont worker and a senior U.S. army official, who spoke anonymously as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate the matter.
However the weekend delay in bread distribution had so angered camp inhabitants, Ms. Hanan mentioned, that she had feared it could spark violence.
“Individuals began demanding we open the gates and allow them to go,” she mentioned. “We might deal with a day or two, however after that? We simply can’t. What would occur within the camp; what sort of explosion might this trigger amongst its inhabitants? May they assault us? Power their approach out of the camp? Tried escapes? All of that might occur.”
It’s unclear what is going to occur when the waiver expires. A Blumont consultant mentioned the humanitarian group would proceed to ship support and supply important companies within the camps till advised in any other case, and “we’ll observe further steerage as we obtain it.”
In an announcement on Wednesday, the State Division mentioned, “A brief pause, with common sense waivers for really life-threatening conditions, is the one solution to scrutinize and forestall waste.”
U.S. monetary help abroad usually helps humanitarian, growth and safety applications, and it makes up lower than 1 p.c of the federal government price range.
Ms. Hanan warned that the help on the camps was important for the area. “ISIS continues to be right here,” she mentioned. “This isn’t over.”
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Havana.
