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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 25,000 people with suspected links to the Islamic State (ISIS) were being held at the notorious al-Hol camp near the city of Hasaka before the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew on Tuesday, following attacks by Damascus-affiliated forces, a Kurdish official told Rudaw English.
The SDF pulled out its forces from the camp, citing intense attacks by the Syrian Arab Army and its affiliated armed groups on the Kurdish personnel stationed there. The Kurdish-led forces attributed their decision to the “indifference” of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and its failure to protect the camp.
Sheikhmous Ahmed, who oversees camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees in northeast Syria (Rojava), told Rudaw English that “a total of 7,130 families - 25,183 individuals - were held at al-Hol camp prior to the SDF’s withdrawal.” He added that “it remains unclear how many detainees have fled and who currently controls the camp.”
The original population of the camp was around 70,000 in 2019, when ISIS was territorially defeated by the SDF with the help of the US-led coalition.
Damascus said Tuesday that its forces were deployed to the area to take control of the camp.
Ahmed also said that members of the al-Khatouni and al-Jabour Arab tribes began looting the camp, including aid centers.
Importantly, Ahmed noted that some 4,000 Iraqi nationals were held in the camp as of Tuesday.
Iraq had repatriated most of its nationals from the camp and was planning to return all by the end of this year.
Al-Hol camp is located near the Iraqi border, around seven kilometers away, Ahmed said, raising concerns that detainees could attempt to cross into Iraq.
Iraq has been ramping up security along borders with Syria in the last few days as a precautionary measure against the tensions in Syria.
Syrian authorities have not disclosed how many people remain in the camp.
Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the Iraqi migration ministry told Rudaw on Tuesday that authorities do not have an exact figure for the number of Iraqis remaining in al-Hol. He added that Iraq has repatriated around 22,000 of its nationals, who were placed in rehabilitation programs before being reintegrated into society.
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