ISIS control: Syria’s prison camp changes hands
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our Middle East correspondent reports from the largest holding camp for ISIS fighters in northern Syria, which government troops have just retaken from Kurdish control. What will happen to the inmates? Custom-made drugs are a medical milestone. And our obituaries editor remembers Cecilia Giménez, whose “Monkey Jesus” transformed the fortunes of a Spanish church.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm your host Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:16.0 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:30.2 | Some diseases are so rare it's been impossible to even contemplate curing them, until now. |
| 0:35.0 | An individualised therapy for a highly unusual genetic disorder has just been deployed. |
| 0:37.9 | Our correspondent chronicles a medical milestone. |
| 0:44.8 | And aged 81, Cecilia Jimenez was helping out at her local church in northern Spain. |
| 0:49.5 | They needed someone to restore an image of Christ, so she agreed to try. |
| 0:52.8 | The amateur painter unwittingly created a sensation. |
| 0:55.6 | Our obituries editor remembers her. |
| 1:03.0 | But first... |
| 1:17.3 | On Wednesday, our correspondent in Syria, Gareth Brown, sent us videos showing celebrations in Arab towns, after Syrian government troops routed Kurdish forces in the north of the country. |
| 1:26.1 | For the past decade, Syria's Kurds have essentially run an autonomous state in northern Syria. |
| 1:33.1 | As that's crumbled, Gareth has been following the repercussions, including what's happened |
| 1:37.9 | at a giant camp holding ISIS prisoners. It's known as Al Hull. |
| 1:43.1 | As you might imagine, connectivity in this region isn't great. |
| 1:47.0 | So the only way I've been able to talk to Gareth is via WhatsApp voice notes. So that's what |
| 1:52.0 | you'll be hearing. And he's also sent me some short videos. I'm at Al-Hol, the largest ISIS camp in Syria, |
| 1:59.0 | who changed hands from the Kurds to the government in |
| 2:02.6 | Damascus headed by Ahmed al-Shara and the guards here tell us they're very worried about |
| 2:07.4 | attempts by people to escape and here at the main entrance you can see we've got a lot of |
... |
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