“In pursuance of the instructions of the Head of State and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, on October 22, 2023, 21 women and 62 children, who are citizens of Kyrgyzstan, were repatriated from Syria to Kyrgyzstan by a special flight,” the Kyrgyz foreign ministry said in a statement.
It expressed gratitude to the US government for facilitating the repatriation by providing “full assistance and logistical support,” while also thanking the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Thousands of children of foreign nationals with suspected links to ISIS live in northeast Syria’s al-Hol and Roj camps, with human rights groups describing camp conditions as “filthy,” “often inhumane,” and “life-threatening.”
Al-Hol camp is located in Hasaka province and has infamously been branded a breeding ground for ISIS, with authorities describing the sprawling facility as a “ticking time bomb,” saying the situation in the camp is “very dangerous.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control northeast Syria, fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the terror group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and took the group’s last stronghold in Syria in 2019.
Over 50,000 ISIS-linked people are kept in al-Hol, while thousands of others are kept in Roj camp.
Kurdish authorities in the region have repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their nationals from the camps, but their calls have largely gone unanswered as most countries are unwilling to bring back their nationals due to security concerns.
