“There was a decision for the 100 families to arrive in Mosul today,” Sherwan Dubardani, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament from Mosul told Rudaw English on Thursday.
“They were supposed to arrive at al-Jada camp, but it was delayed until after Eid,” Dubardni added, saying they would use whatever means to “not let this decision be implemented.”
The Mosul governor expressed his “surprise” over the decision to return the families in a letter sent to Rudaw English by Dubardani, addressed to the camp and other senior officials.
“The governorate was surprised by the news of the transfer of the Syria’s al-Hol camp IDPs to Nineveh province,” Najim al-Jibouri wrote, urging the camp officials to “wait on this matter for deliberation, study and effective solutions with the Nineveh local government.”
He added the place they are being transferred to, al-Jada camp in South Mosul’s Qayyarah sub-district, is “not suitable at all” because it is among densely populated villages. He noted that there is a “widespread popular rejection to return these families of terrorists.”
This comes after a senior official from the camp told Rudaw on Thursday that 100 Iraqi families were being returned to Mosul in the morning.
Ali Abbas, spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement, told Rudaw’s Mushtaq Ramadan on Thursday that they had not been notified and or aware of any imminent return plans.
More than half of al-Hol’s 60,000 residents are Iraqis and most are family members of suspected ISIS fighters who were brought to the camp from the battlefield in Deir ez-Zor province two years ago.
Dubardani previously told Rudaw English that about 700 individuals will be brought across the border and taken to al-Jada camp, voicing his worry about the security risks associated with bringing into the country people with alleged ties to the terror group.
Rojava authorities have repeatedly called on the international community to take responsibility for their citizens. Most Western governments are resisting bringing their nationals home, citing security risks.
