“A number of Iraqis in al-Hol camp are scheduled to be returned next week. The returnees will be about 150 families and about 600 people,” Ali Abbas, spokesperson for Iraq’s ministry of migration and displaced, told Rudaw.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of ISIS fighters along with their wives and children when they took control of the group’s last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Many of these people were taken to al-Hol and Roj camps.
Al-Hol camp is located in northeast Syria’s Hasaka province and houses over 50,000 ISIS-linked people. The camp has infamously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with authorities describing it as a “ticking time bomb.” The camp residents come from around the world, but the bulk are Syrian and Iraqi.
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked opposition in Iraq, with tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the group that committed atrocious human rights abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when they controlled vast swathes of the country.
Iraq has repatriated 1,924 families from al-Hol camp, totaling 7,556 people. Of that number, 1,230 people have returned to their hometowns in Iraq, National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Saturday.