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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Al-Hol is a ticking time bomb, Iraq’s national security advisor warned the US ambassador to Iraq in a meeting on Thursday, the same day 10 people were arrested in the camp for a recent spate of killings.
Iraq needs to find a practical final solution for the camp with the international community, Qassem al-Araji said, adding that there are 20,000 Iraqi children in the camp.
"The continuation of al-Hol camp the way it is makes it a time bomb especially with the presence of 20,000 Iraqi children - children and adolescents – in the camp that will all eventually become ISIS militia members," Araji said.
Strategic dialogue between the US and Iraq was also discussed in the meeting, the statement added.
Home to nearly 62,000 people, Al-Hol camp, in northeast Syria’s Hasaka province is mostly home to women and children linked to Islamic State (ISIS) militants. Conditions in the camp have previously been condemned by Human Rights Watch as “filthy and often inhuman.”
Tens of people, mostly Iraqi refugees, have been killed in the camp in recent months. The deteriorating security situation has prompted some countries to expand repatriation from the camps.
Ten people were arrested on Thursday over the murders, after another person was killed in the camp on the same day.
On Thursday, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) called on the international community to continue reparation efforts, deeming them as currently insufficient.
"The AANES rejects the claims that ISIS fighters are illegally detained in our region, as we repeatedly called on establishing a tribunal to prosecute them. The AANES welcomes the cooperation with the international community on the issues of repatriating the children, solving the issue of women and making reparation for the victims," it said.
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