ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The president of the Kurdistan Region and the US State Department's envoy to Syria on Wednesday met to discuss the lasting defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) group as well as the dangerous situation in the country's camps, particularly the notorious al-Hol camp.
President Nechirvan Barzani and Nicolas Granger discussed the threat that ISIS continues to pose to Syria and Iraq as well as the difficult situation in al-Hol camp which houses people who have links to the terror group, according to a statement from the president's office.
"Both sides called on European and regional countries to cooperate in the repatriation of their citizens from al-Hol camp in Syria to their countries," the statement said while stressing the need to continue joint cooperation to fight ISIS.
Al-Hol camp is located in northeast Syria's (Rojava) Hasaka province and has infamously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with authorities describing the sprawling facility as a "ticking time bomb," saying the situation in the camp is "very dangerous."
The camp is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who routinely launch operations to capture ISIS sleeper cells dwelling in the camp.
"Terrorism will not only be destroyed by weapons, but we also need to eliminate terrorism through education and the depth of the culture of tolerance, acceptance ... and confrontation of the ideology of extremism and violence," President Barzani added.
The facility is home to around 56,000 people – mostly women and children of different nationalities who have links to ISIS and were taken to the camp following the SDF's takedown of ISIS in their last Syria stronghold in 2019.
The US has repeatedly urged the international community to repatriate their nationals from the camp, warning that the children residing in the facility could be radicalized by ISIS sleeper cells present there.
ISIS rose to power across swathes of Syria in 2014 but it was territorially defeated five years later. Despite the group's lack of any territorial presence, it continues to pose serious security risks through kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings in the war-torn country.
