ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government repatriated over 600 people affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) from northeast Syria (Rojava) late on Thursday and arrested 17 of them, an informed source told Rudaw on Friday.
A member of the Iraqi parliament’s migration and immigrants committee told Rudaw English that 169 families with suspected ISIS ties were returned from Rojava’s notorious al-Hol camp at 11:30 pm on Thursday. The group consisted of 620 men, women and children.
Iraqi intelligence was informed that 17 wanted fugitives were included in the group and arrested them before their arrival at al-Jadaa Center for Community Rehabilitation in Nineveh province, said the lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
One of the suspects is accused of involvement in the 2014 Speicher massacre committed by ISIS.
The informed source told Rudaw English that it is possible the group arrested is the same referred to in an Iraqi security force statement earlier in the day.
The Joint Operations Command said on Friday that it arrested 18 people on warrants that had been issued in 2015. “One of them is implicated in the Speicher massacre, participating in the killing of hundreds of Iraqi citizens,” read the statement, adding that the suspect had been hiding in a neighboring country using a fake name and forged documents, but gave no further detail.
The Camp Speicher Massacre is one of the most brutal crimes carried out by ISIS in Iraq. On June 12, 2014, around 1,700 Shiite cadets undergoing training at Camp Speicher in Tikrit were executed by ISIS militants who had initially promised them safety.
The lawmaker said that the 16 other people were arrested for alleged links with ISIS.
Hawar News Agency (ANHA), a media outlet affiliated to Rojava authorities, also reported the new repatriation of Iraqis from al-Hol, putting the number of families at 173 and the total number of people at 659.
Last month, Iraq repatriated 192 families, consisting of a total of 780 individuals, from Rojava and placed them in the al-Jadaa Center for Community Rehabilitation in Nineveh province.
Al-Hol camp houses 45,355 people, mostly women and children. This includes 21,633 Syrians and 17,022 Iraqis, according to the latest figures from the US-led global coalition against ISIS.
The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with authorities describing it as a “ticking time bomb.” Camp residents come from around the world, but the bulk are Syrian and Iraqi.
With the latest group, Iraq has repatriated 1,728 families, numbering 7,607 individuals, from Syria, according to data Radaw has obtained from Iraqi authorities.More news from Al-Hol Camp in Syria and Al-Jeddah Community Rehabilitation Centre in Iraq. The AHC population continues to fall, as more and more IDPs continue their #JourneyHome thanks to successful rehabilitation efforts. pic.twitter.com/wzPRoOAuVF
— The Global Coalition (@coalition) December 21, 2023
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked opposition in Iraq, with tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the terror group that committed atrocious human rights abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when they controlled vast swathes of the country.
Iraq has also brought home men accused of fighting for ISIS. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told American officials in June that Baghdad had returned around 3,000 ISIS-affiliated Iraqi fighters who had been detained in Rojava. Most have been put on trial. The fighters had been arrested by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
