President Trump’s sweeping executive order to halt foreign aid threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting security forces inside a notorious camp in the Syrian desert that holds tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families, Syrian and U.S. officials said.
The order has also wreaked havoc on another U.S. organization in Syria that was forced to briefly stop operations inside the camp, known as Al Hol, where the large concentration of ISIS members is seen as a security threat.
Concerns over an ISIS comeback have been rising, with Syria in a state of flux as its new leaders try to solidify control over a nation still fragmented after rebels ousted its authoritarian leader, Bashar al-Assad.
The Trump administration has argued that the funding freeze, set to last for 90 days, was needed to ensure U.S. funds were not being wasted. But its impact highlights the risk posed to operations seen as critical to preventing a resurgence of ISIS, a jihadist group that once controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq and launched deadly attacks in Europe and the United States before it was decimated by an American-led international coalition.
American troops still maintain a presence in northeastern Syria, supporting a local U.S. ally, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, in the coalition’s fight against ISIS. The S.D.F. not only controls northeastern Syria, but also a constellation of prisons and refugee camps in the territory holding ISIS fighters and their families, who are mostly from Syria and Iraq but also dozens of other countries.
“The Al Hol camp is full of ISIS remnants,” Jihan Hanan, the camp director and an official in the regional government, said in an interview. “Our prisons are full of ISIS fighters. They pose a huge threat to the people of this region. We were the ones who fought on the front lines against ISIS. We were America’s partners. They should continue with us to the end — or at least until we can ensure peace and security for this region.”
Western security officials have also expressed concerns that any deterioration of control over the camps and prisons could fuel an ISIS revival in the region and beyond.
After Mr. Trump’s directive last Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop-work order for all foreign aid. That order has halted operations by the U.S. contractor, Proximity International, which manages a program to train and equip thousands of Syrians to act as a police force, and provide them with vehicles and equipment.
One of the company’s most critical roles is providing security inside Al Hol camp, which houses some 39,000 ISIS members, their families and refugees, Ms. Hanan said. Occupied mostly by Iraqis and Syrians, the camp also contains foreigners of 42 other nationalities.
“It’s got a huge effect on us,” Ms. Hanan said of the halt to Proximity operations. “They supported internal security. They supplied what was needed for the camp gates — the technical equipment they needed, security cameras — all that kind of work, they supported that.”
Maintaining security at Al Hol, as well as a smaller camp, Al Roj, is viewed as a critical part of keeping an ISIS resurgence at bay. The camps are seen as a key target for ISIS recruitment and operations.
Proximity International’s contract to support the security forces ends on Friday, according to Ms. Hanan and two of the program’s employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity. And because it has been ordered to stop work, it cannot sign a new contract with the forces. The company has filed for an exemption, the employees said, but had yet to receive a response as of Thursday.
Proximity International did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Local officials warned that not only were such freezes a security risk, they could also undermine Washington’s relationship with its local Kurdish allies before the Trump administration has determined its strategies toward Syria and ISIS.
Adding to the disarray for the sensitive programs is the Trump administration’s apparent reversal of the directive ordering halts to federal funding. The two U.S. contractors affected at Al Hol said the move did not appear to reverse their freeze but that it had added yet another layer of confusion to an already uncertain situation.
The U.S. State Department defended the foreign aid freeze this week, arguing that it would incentivize organizations to offer a thorough accounting and justification of American financing of foreign projects.
The stop-work order also briefly halted a Virginia-based nonprofit organization’s work last Saturday in the two camps, laying bare the potential for chaos.
The nonprofit, Blumont, handles aid distribution, electricity and latrines at the camps, and employs security guards for the camps’ warehouses and supply centers. It also helps manage repatriation operations: Reducing the number of inhabitants at the camps is seen as critical to diminishing the potential for exploitation by ISIS.
Ms. Hanan said when Blumont was ordered at 1 a.m. local time Saturday to stop operations — hours before she and the organization were set to help repatriate dozens of families to Iraq — the aid group immediately withdrew its security guards and halted distribution of bread and fuel.
S.D.F. forces rushed in to fill the security gap, she said, while Blumont workers scrambled to stretch their resources to cover residents’ needs.
It was not until the beginning of this week that the company received a two-week waiver to continue security and humanitarian aid at the camps while U.S. administration officials reviewed the assistance, according to a Blumont employee and a senior U.S. military official, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
But the weekend delay in bread distribution had so angered camp inhabitants, Ms. Hanan said, that she had feared it would spark violence.
“People started demanding we open the gates and let them go,” she said. “We could handle a day or two, but after that? We just can’t. What would happen in the camp; what kind of explosion could this cause among its inhabitants? Could they attack us? Force their way out of the camp? Attempted escapes? All of that could happen.”
It is unclear what will happen when the waiver expires. A Blumont representative said the humanitarian group would continue to deliver aid and provide critical services in the camps until told otherwise, and “we’ll follow additional guidance as we receive it.”
The U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said the continued uncertainty was very disruptive to the high-profile mission in northeastern Syria.
But in a statement on Wednesday, the State Department continued to defend the move. “A temporary pause, with common-sense waivers for truly life-threatening situations, is the only way to scrutinize and prevent waste,” it said.
U.S. financial assistance overseas generally supports humanitarian, development and security programs, and it makes up less than 1 percent of the government budget.
Ms. Hanan warned that the aid at the camps was critical for the region. “ISIS is still here,” she said. “This isn’t over.”
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
