Kurdish forces launched a security operation in a camp for suspected family members of Islamic State group militants and made dozens of arrests yesterday, a war monitor and Kurdish officials said.

"More than thirty women and men have been arrested" in a sweeping anti-IS operation in and around the Al-Hol camp, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The arrests are ongoing" as part of a days-long operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the Kurdish regional administration's main fighting force, the Kurdish YPG militia and a local police force, Abdul Rahman said.

Syrians and foreigners "suspected of supporting IS" have been arrested, he said.