The Syrian General Intelligence Service, in cooperation with the Internal Security Command in the Damascus Countryside Governorate, was able to arrest the executive arm of ISIS in Homs, Khaled Raed Biruni, nicknamed “Abu Hassan Dushka,” during a security operation carried out in the town of Hajira in the Damascus countryside, according to what was reported by the Syrian Ministry of Interior.
The Ministry of the Interior stated on its page on “X” today, Tuesday, that security data and ongoing investigations confirmed that the detainee held the position of the organization’s general military officer in “Homs Province,” and was responsible for planning and supervising the implementation of a number of terrorist acts in the city, which included preparing and using explosive devices, and carrying out attacks of a sectarian nature, in addition to his responsibility for the bombing that targeted the Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood in the city of Homs. In December of last year...
The Ministry confirmed that the competent authorities are continuing their investigations into the detainee to reveal details of his activity and to complete legal procedures against him.
2,200 family members of ISIS fighters, most of them foreigners, are staying in a camp that is still managed by the Kurds in northeastern Syria, according to what an official in charge of it said, despite the implementation of an agreement to integrate Kurdish institutions within the framework of the Syrian state.
According to two Syrian government sources, transferring the camp’s management to the Syrian authorities “will take time.” As it is among the merger files that are being worked on successively, according to what was reported by “Agence France-Presse.”
In the alleys of Roj camp, located in Al-Hasakah Governorate, near the border with Türkiye, the agency’s correspondents saw veiled women and children, including teenagers, a number of whom asked to refrain from photographing them. The camp is heavily guarded by Kurdish security forces.
The camp official, Hakmiya Ibrahim, told Agence France-Presse on Monday: “Roj camp includes 729 ISIS families, meaning more than 2,200 people,” explaining that “there has been no change in its management so far” despite the start of implementation of the merger agreement.
The camp houses families of more than fifty nationalities, according to Hakimiya Ibrahim, with the largest number of them coming from Russia, in addition to others of French, Turkish, German nationalities and a number of Arab countries, including Tunisia and Morocco. Among those detained in the camp is Shamima Begum, whose citizenship was confirmed by the British judiciary in February 2024, after she joined the ranks of ISIS at the age of 15.
The Kurds and Damascus signed an agreement at the beginning of the year, which stipulated the integration of their institutions into the framework of state institutions. In August, after a military escalation with Damascus, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, who was appointed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa as his advisor, announced the dissolution of his forces, whose backbone was the Kurds, which confronted ISIS.
Since the signing of the agreement, the Syrian government has successively taken over the management of institutions and facilities that were under the management of the Kurds. The international coalition led by Washington transferred “more than 5,700 fighters” from prisons under their control to neighboring Iraq.
A Syrian government official who is keeping track of the file of the organization’s fighters and their families told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that “Roj Camp, like other institutions, is being integrated” within the framework of the state, explaining that “transferring its administration will take time,” with its “manifold humanitarian and political dimensions and its relationship with external parties.” In reference to the countries from which detainees in the camp originate and which had previously refused to take them back.
A source in the Syrian Ministry of Interior confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the Roj camp “is part of a general file that is being worked on.”
This last camp is under the control of the Kurds, after their forces withdrew during the escalation with Damascus from Al-Hawl camp, which included more than 23,000 people, the majority of whom were Syrians and Iraqis, in addition to about 6,500 of 44 other nationalities.
The majority of the detainees, including women and children, fled the camp to an unknown destination, according to Damascus.
The Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor report for 2026 showed that in 2025, Syria recorded the highest number of deaths or injuries in one country due to cluster munition remnants, with 68 cases out of 117 cases recorded globally.
This confirms the continued danger posed by the remnants of these munitions to civilians, despite the fact that no new use of them has been recorded in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024.
The Cluster Munition Monitor, a research and monitoring initiative of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition, has released its 17th annual report, focusing on 2025 and including information updated through July 2026.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights has been a member of the Observatory for Syria since 2020 and contributes to providing it with information related to Syria. The network has documented the use of cluster munitions in Syria since 2012, including dead and injured victims and incident sites, identifying the responsible party, where possible.
The network attributed the cases of use it documented to the forces of the former Syrian regime and Russian forces, and it also documented the use of ISIS at least one type of cluster munition. The Syrian Human Rights Network issued a large number of reports and statistics in this field.
The International Monitor report has not recorded any known use of cluster munitions in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024, and it does not include Syria among the countries in which it is believed or suspected that the use of cluster munitions during the years 2025 and 2026 led to new contamination.
During the monitoring period, the report documented the use of cluster munitions by Iran, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand, and Ukraine, and also recorded their use in Mali in May 2026, without being able to determine the responsible party.
The network, for its part, warned in a report issued on the occasion of the observatory’s annual report that the persistence of large gaps in services exposes survivors to difficulties in accessing basic care due to a lack of resources, especially outside the main cities. It also reports a shortage of emergency care services, rehabilitation, limbs, orthotics, psychological and social support, and economic integration services.
The report stated that survivors face additional burdens due to long distances and high costs of accessing services, noting that the lack of investment in victim assistance, along with administrative restrictions and obstacles to the import of specialized equipment, have limited rehabilitation options and the effectiveness of the broader response to mine action.
The network pointed out that Syria is among 29 countries and regions known to be contaminated with cluster munition remnants, and is not a signatory to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, despite its previous participation as an observer in some of the Convention’s meetings. However, the report does not record any new official step towards joining it. It urged the Syrian government to take formal steps to join the 2008 Cluster Munitions Convention, and to declare a permanent national commitment not to use, produce, store, or transfer these munitions.
