Kurdish forces withdraw from IS detention camp in north-east Syria

Neighbouring states warned of chaos if IS prisoners were freed from camp they regard as hotbed of extremism

Kurdish-led forces in Syria have announced a withdrawal from a detention camp in north-east Syria housing tens of thousands of Islamic State-linked detainees, as government forces continued to advance in the region.

The fate of al-Hawl, which houses among others the most radical of foreign women suspected to have been members of IS, and their families, is of great concern to neighbouring states and the international community. These states have for years warned that the camp is a hotbed of extremism and chaos could result if a jailbreak were to occur.