ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Baghdad is preparing to repatriate the remaining Iraqi families from notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria amid growing security concerns following recent developments in the country, a high-ranking Iraqi security source told Rudaw on Monday.
“We are preparing to return all Iraqi families remaining inside al-Hol camp to Iraq as soon as possible,” the source said.
Iraqi interior minister and acting minister of migration and displaced Abdul-Amir al-Shammari is overseeing the process and is scheduled to visit the Jadaa camp in Nineveh province on Monday.
The camp has been designated as the main rehabilitation center for families returning from al-Hol before they are eventually sent back to their hometowns in Iraq.
Al-Hol camp, located southeast of Hasaka in northeastern Syria (Rojava) and managed by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), hosts tens of thousands of people, including the spouses and children of former Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
The camp has long been notorious for dire living conditions and the presence of radicalized individuals, earning a reputation as a potential incubator for extremism. Iraqis and Syrians constitute the majority of its residents, though thousands of people from other countries who joined ISIS or lived under its rule also remain in the camp.
Iraqi officials say the unstable security situation in Syria has prompted an acceleration of the repatriation plan. The security source warned that “it is unknown what will happen in the near future because the situation in Syria is unstable, and we must prepare ourselves for all possibilities.