AILSA CHANG, HOST:
In Syria, fighting between Kurdish-led forces, long back by the U.S. and Syrian government troops, sparked a security collapse at al-Hol. That's the biggest detention facility for families of Islamic state fighters. The facility holds tens of thousands of people, and some detainees have now escaped. NPR's Jane Arraf has covered the facility and northeastern Syria extensively. She joins us now from Amman, Jordan. Hi, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Hi there.
CHANG: So this feels like a pretty dramatic development since just a couple of days ago - right? - when the Syrian president announced a ceasefire. Can you first just tell us a little bit about this massive ISIS detention camp?
ARRAF: Yeah. It's really hard to explain exactly how desperate, desolate and improbable this al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria is. First, it's in a breakaway part of Syria that had been unrecognized by most governments and very rarely visited. And the residents included thousands of foreigners, many of them young women who ran away or were lured away by ISIS fighters or left to join the self-declared caliphate, whose governments won't take them back. And in the past seven years, there's been a new generation born, including some of the most fervent believers in ISIS now at this camp. There isn't enough food. There isn't enough medicine, and it has become increasingly dangerous. It exists because after the U.S. and the Kurds defeated ISIS in Syria in 2019, the Kurds were left in charge of all of these ISIS families and suspected fighters.
CHANG: Wait. So has fighting resumed between the Kurds and Syrian government at this point?
ARRAF: Well, a short while ago, there was another ceasefire. This time, a four-day ceasefire announced, and that's to give the Kurdish-led forces, the Syrian Democratic forces, or the SDF, time to hand over control of other facilities. But we have to remember it isn't just about prisons. The Kurds are being told to give up territory, where they created this unique, autonomous region after breaking away from the al-Assad regime during Syria's civil war.
Now, the Kurds have been a key partner in fighting ISIS. In 2014, when ISIS declared that caliphate, Syrian Kurds say they lost in the fighting after that - 25,000 fighters pushing ISIS back. So what we're seeing now is a remarkable downfall for the Kurds, defeated by Syrian government that's headed by former al-Qaida fighter Ahmed al-Sharaa, who renounced that ideology and helped topple the former regime in 2024. He's backed by Turkey and, increasingly, the U.S.
CHANG: Well, let's talk about the U.S. because I understand the U.S. has about 2,000 troops in that part of Syria. What has been the U.S. role in all of this?
ARRAF: Well, U.S. military leaders over the years have worried about the ISIS resurgence, and that's pretty much why they have troops there. But President Trump's envoy to Turkey, Tom Barrack, put it very succinctly today. He said the U.S. relationship with Syrian Kurds was based on their shared fight against ISIS. And now he said the U.S. didn't really need them for that. I talked to the former spokesperson for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq and Syria, Myles Caggins III. Here's what he had to say about what had been a close relationship for years with the SDF.
MYLES CAGGINS III: Now, today, by Tweet, U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack has severed that relationship, emphasizing that it was temporary and transactional.
ARRAF: And Caggin's also pointed out that the latest U.S. defense bill passed in December included about $200 million in spending on Syrian Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIS. So we've got the Kurds feeling both betrayed and very afraid.
CHANG: That is NPR's Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan. Thank you, Jane.
ARRAF: Thank you.
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