A 37-year-old Syrian was arrested on Tuesday in Arkel, South Holland, because, according to the Public Prosecution Service, he was probably a security chief of the Islamic State (IS). He is suspected of war crimes in Syria.
The suspect is said to have played an important role within IS in the Syrian civil war between 2015 and 2018. The Public Prosecution Service suspects him that in that position he contributed to war crimes committed by the terrorist group in Syria.
The man is also said to have been involved in the terrorist organization Al Nusra. This movement was known as the “Al Qaeda of Syria.” Al Nusra started as a subdivision of IS, but later split off and developed into a rival of IS. It later merged with other smaller terror groups.
At both IS and Al Nusra, the man is said to have been security chief in and around the notorious Yarmouk refugee camp, in the south of the Syrian capital Damascus. That camp was taken by IS in 2015, and later by Al Nusra.
The man applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 2019 and has lived in Arkel since 2020. After receiving information about his past, the National Criminal Investigation Department and the Public Prosecution Service started an investigation.
The suspect will be brought before the examining magistrate in The Hague on January 20.
