More than 190 ISIS-affiliates leave al-Hol camp
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 190 people affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) have left the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria (Rojava) to return to their homes in eastern Syria on Sunday, according to a conflict monitor.
A group of 194 people from 48 families was allowed to exit the camp, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported, adding that most of them are originally from Deir ez-Zor province.
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 stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Most of these people are held at al-Hol, which is home to more than 60,000 people — mostly women and children from different nationalities.
According to the Hawar News Agency (ANHA), a Kurdish administration-affiliated news outlet, 8,690 people from 2,314 families have moved out of the camp so far. This is the 43rd group of people to leave the camp since the summer of 2020.
There have been repeated calls from Kurdish and US officials asking the international community to repatriate their nationals from overcrowded camps, where children are exposed to an extremist ideology and repeated killings have been linked to ISIS women. But only a few countries have responded positively. Most are worried about security concerns and are generally limiting repatriations, even for children.
Last month, eleven Swedish nationals and three British children were repatriated from the camp.
Human rights groups have previously warned of squalid conditions in the camp, described as “filthy and often inhuman” by Human Rights Watch.
Seventy-three people, including two children, were murdered at al-Hol this year, Save the Children said in September.
Over 300 people from 92 families with links to ISIS left the camp on September 15.
A group of 194 people from 48 families was allowed to exit the camp, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported, adding that most of them are originally from Deir ez-Zor province.
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 stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Most of these people are held at al-Hol, which is home to more than 60,000 people — mostly women and children from different nationalities.
According to the Hawar News Agency (ANHA), a Kurdish administration-affiliated news outlet, 8,690 people from 2,314 families have moved out of the camp so far. This is the 43rd group of people to leave the camp since the summer of 2020.
There have been repeated calls from Kurdish and US officials asking the international community to repatriate their nationals from overcrowded camps, where children are exposed to an extremist ideology and repeated killings have been linked to ISIS women. But only a few countries have responded positively. Most are worried about security concerns and are generally limiting repatriations, even for children.
Human rights groups have previously warned of squalid conditions in the camp, described as “filthy and often inhuman” by Human Rights Watch.
Seventy-three people, including two children, were murdered at al-Hol this year, Save the Children said in September.
Over 300 people from 92 families with links to ISIS left the camp on September 15.