Mixed reception for ISIS-linked Iraqi families returning from Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Some five hundred people affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) returned to Iraq from al-Hol camp in Syria late on Tuesday, which has drawn criticism from locals and Yazidi survivors.

One returnee that spoke to Rudaw showed little remorse for joining the terror group.

“I love the Islamic State, I really love it. My brother and husband were all members of Daesh and I am proud of them - now and later. I hope they come tomorrow. We are in a really difficult condition,” said an Iraqi returnee, who only agreed to be named as Umm Ahmed. She admitted that her husband had enslaved a Yazidi woman.

Her family was among nearly one hundred ISIS-affiliated families who were repatriated by the Iraqi government late Tuesday, despite criticism from locals and officials who see the families as a threat.

Opposition to the repatriation delayed the process for weeks. The families have now been moved to al-Jada camp, near the town of Qayyara in Nineveh province.  

Camp management has banned media from entering, but agreed for Umm Ahmed to be interviewed by Rudaw outside the camp, accompanied by her young son. 

“We are Daesh no matter where we go. All my family members are Daesh,” she said, using an Arabic acronym for the group avoided by members due to its negative connotations.

ISIS took control of swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively. However, it still remains a threat to both countries, especially in border areas.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of ISIS fighters and their wives and children when they took control of the group’s last bastion in Syria in March 2019. Most of these people are held at the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava). The camp is currently home to over 60,000 people - mostly women and children. More than half of them are Iraqis.

Several women held in the camp have given interviews to foreign media of their regret in joining the group. A number of Iraqis in the camp have been killed in recent months, prompting security concerns – and calls for the repatriation of foreign children from the camp. 

The returnees include 22 families from downtown Mosul, which used to be an ISIS stronghold while the rest are from Qayyara and Anbar, according to Qayyara Mayor Salih Hassan al-Jabouri.

“These families came as per a decision by Iraqi government...Therefore, everyone has to abide by it,” he told Rudaw, adding that they plan to repatriate more Iraqi families from al-Hol camp.

Among its most brutal atrocities, ISIS killed and displaced thousands from ethnic-religious Yazidi community in Shingal in 2014. Over 6,000 were kidnapped, nearly half of whom remain missing.

Suad Saido is a Yazidi survivor. She was held by ISIS for nearly three years but was later rescued from al-Hol camp, and has slammed the repatriation of ISIS families.

“I used to be at al-Hol camp, and was held by Daesh. I believe that Daesh [affiliated people] should not enter Iraq because when they do they will bring worse things upon Yazidi women. I call on the Iraqi government to prevent them from entering Iraq.”

The top US general for the Middle East, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, said on Friday that the repatriation “would be the first step in many such repatriations, and I think that’s going to be the key to bringing down the population in the al-Hol camp, and indeed in other camps across the region.”

“Nations need to bring back their citizens, repatriate them, reintegrate them, deradicalize them when necessary and make them productive elements of society,” he said during an unannounced visit to Syria. 

Additional reporting by Tahsin Qasim