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Syria
A man pushes a cart with children seated inside at al-Hol camp on June 26, 2021. Photo: Delil Souleiman / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Security forces have arrested over a dozen Iraqi nationals at the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava) for committing a number of violations, a monitor reported on Sunday amid fears of an increase in crime at the camp.
Fourteen Iraqis, including one woman, were arrested by al-Hol’s internal security forces (Asayish) according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The security members were supported by Rojava’s Jazira operation forces.
The detainees “confessed to killings, chaos, raiding reception centers and targeting internal security forces” inside the camp, the monitor added.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters along with 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, including Iraqis.
The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism. Human rights groups have previously warned of squalid conditions in the camp, describing it as “filthy and often inhuman,” with “life-threatening” conditions.
Seventy-three crimes have taken place in al-Hol since the beginning of this year, killing 79 people including security members, said SOHR.
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.
To date, only a few countries have responded positively. Most are worried about security concerns and are generally limiting repatriations, even for children.
A group of 194 people from 48 families left the camp earlier this month.
In October, eleven Swedish nationals and three British children were repatriated from the camp.
The Iraqi government repatriated 93 Iraqi families from al-Hol in May. Iraq has agreed to take in 500 families in a phased operation.
Fourteen Iraqis, including one woman, were arrested by al-Hol’s internal security forces (Asayish) according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The security members were supported by Rojava’s Jazira operation forces.
The detainees “confessed to killings, chaos, raiding reception centers and targeting internal security forces” inside the camp, the monitor added.
The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism. Human rights groups have previously warned of squalid conditions in the camp, describing it as “filthy and often inhuman,” with “life-threatening” conditions.
Seventy-three crimes have taken place in al-Hol since the beginning of this year, killing 79 people including security members, said SOHR.
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.
To date, only a few countries have responded positively. Most are worried about security concerns and are generally limiting repatriations, even for children.
A group of 194 people from 48 families left the camp earlier this month.
In October, eleven Swedish nationals and three British children were repatriated from the camp.
The Iraqi government repatriated 93 Iraqi families from al-Hol in May. Iraq has agreed to take in 500 families in a phased operation.
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