Al-Hol camp residents in need of new tents, winter clothing: camp official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Al-Hol camp, home to many  families linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) is struggling with winter conditions amid a lack of aid, an official told Rudaw on Thursday.

“Per our estimations, anywhere between 69,000 to 70,000 people live here [in al-Hol],” Shiekhmous Ahmed, head of camps in the Eastern Euphrates in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria told Rudaw.

Old tents and a lack of winter clothing and collective kitchens is worsening camp conditions, according to the official. 

“One of the difficult things in this month of winter is that of tents. They need to be changed. Unfortunately the [UN Refugee] Commission is not acting quickly,” he added.

The camp’s population swelled to 75,000 following the capture of Baghouz, the last ISIS stronghold, in March 2019. Almost all inhabitants are women and children. 

With winter settling in, about 100 tents in al-Hol have blown away and another ten have burned down.

Conditions in the camp are said to be dire, mainly due to overcrowding and a lack of medical care.

Camp provisions dried up as international NGOS withdrew from the region following the Turkish invasion of northeast Syria in October of last year.

Things might even get worse with a UN vote last week that scaled back aid from international aid organizations. 

Now aid can only come in through border crossings controlled by the regime of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

There is also a need for "medicine, hospitals and clinics",  revealed the camp manager.

The lack of humanitarian aid is leading to more calls for foreign residents in the camp to be sent home.

Local tribal leaders in Deiz ez-Zor have previously campaigned for residents to be evacuated due to living conditions in the camp. 

“There are 30,000 Iraqis here. It would be good if they were to, in coordination with the [UN Refugee] Commission return to Iraq,” explained Ahmed.

Iraq and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) did reach an agreement last year  on the repatriation of Iraqis in the camp, many of whom fled with their ISIS family members, but so far the agreement has not been implemented.

“There are 10,500 foreign women and children in al-Hol,” revealed Ahmed. “We would like for their countries to take their back home since they create trouble.”

The repatriation of ISIS-linked women and children has divided many of their home countries. Norway’s populist party quit the government coalition earlier this week following a decision to bring home a family from al-Hol.