Thousands of Kurdish-led forces, with assistance from the US-led coalition, have launched a military operation at a sprawling camp in northeast Syria, in a new effort to identify and arrest Islamic State militants and tamp down escalating killings and violence in the camp.

The security sweep at the al-Hol camp will continue over time and is being conducted with 'indirect' intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support provided by the coalition, US officials said Sunday. The Kurdish-led forces said they have nearly 5,000 fighters participating in the operation and on Sunday they arrested nine people, including an Iraqi IS member who worked in recruitment.