ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq on Saturday repatriated over 600 people from northeast Syria’s (Rojava) al-Hol camp that houses tens of thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates, an official from the ministry of migration and displaced said.
“159 Iraqi families were repatriated from al-Hol camp on Saturday evening, and the families consist of 622 people,” Ali Abbas, spokesperson for Iraq’s ministry of migration and displaced, told Rudaw.
They will be temporarily resettled in al-Jada camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province to be prepared for reintegration into their communities and then returned to their homes.
Al-Hol camp is located in northeast Syria’s Hasaka province and houses over 50,000 ISIS-linked people. The camp has infamously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with authorities describing it as a “ticking time bomb.” The camp residents come from around the world, but the bulk are Syrian and Iraqi.
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked opposition in Iraq, with tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the group that committed atrocious human rights abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when they controlled vast swathes of the country.
Earlier in March, Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said that the country has repatriated almost 2,000 families from al-Hol camp, totaling over 7,500 people.
