The video, posted online on September 11, shows a number of Kurdish Asayesh (internal security) officers opening a compartment on the side of water truck, revealing four women and six semi-conscious children under the age of eight.
Sheikhmous Ahmad, the head of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) office for internally displaced persons (IDP) and refugees, confirmed to Rudaw English that the video is new and the residents were smuggled out of the overcrowded Al-Hol camp.
The driver, a bearded young man in a white shirt, is led out of the vehicle by a female Asayesh officer and he proceeds to open a compartment on the side of the water tanker as cries of children could be heard and someone inside bangs on the metal wall.
For two minutes, the Asayesh officer and the driver struggle to open the door. Finally a child who is barely five years old emerges from the compartment. The second child pulled out appears to be semi-conscious. A third child appears, followed by a woman with their bags. One of the female Asayesh officers splashes water on the children to freshen them up, but they do not appear to move.
The first woman who emerges from the compartment turns to the cameraperson and says “don’t film … we are humans and not animals.” In total, four women and six children were discovered in the water tanker. Only one of the children has the energy to cry. The others lie down, motionless.
“You are from Iraq?” a female Asayesh officer asks one of the women. The woman appears to nod. Approximately 68,000 people – including Syrians and Iraqis as well as those of foreign nationality – live in al-Hol camp. Nearly two thirds, approximately 43,000, are children.
A researcher with the Rojava Information Center (RIC) affiliated with SDF confirmed the attempted smuggling incident and told Rudaw English that hiding in water tankers is a common tactic for suspected ISIS members and their children trying to escape the camp.
“This is quite routine and these of course are foreign nationals… who have paid a smuggler to bring them out of camp. It is a water tanker, but this method has no terribly high success rate. Yes they have given their children sleeping pills… They were detected and have been removed and returned to the detention camp,” said RIC's Thomas McClure.
On Wednesday, the UK government announced it rescued a British child from the Al-Hol camp.
Additional reporting by Karwan Faidhi Dri
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