ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Around 3,000 Iraqis who have been held in Syria’s notorious al-Hol camp over alleged Islamic State (ISIS) affiliation have yet to be repatriated, a senior Iraqi official said on Sunday. He added that a large number of them are unwilling to return due to arrest warrants at home.
“Around 3,000 Iraqi nationals are still in al-Hol camp in Syria. Of that number, approximately 1,200 individuals—because they are wanted—do not want to return to Iraq,” Nouri Karim, deputy minister of migration, told Rudaw.
It remains unclear where these Iraqis are currently being held, as the interim government in Damascus has intensified efforts to empty al-Hol camp and transfer the remaining residents to a better-equipped facility in Aleppo province.
Thousands were reportedly left unaccounted for after the camp was left unguarded for several hours last month, when the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were forced to withdraw as the Syrian Arab Army advanced into SDF-held areas.
Al-Hol camp is located southeast of the city of Hasaka in northeast Syria (Rojava) and is often described as a “ticking time bomb.” It once housed 70,000 individuals, but the number had dropped to around 25,000 before the SDF withdrawal. It is unclear how many people remain in the facility.
Sheikhmous Ahmed, who supervises all IDP and refugee camps in Rojava, told Rudaw English last month that nearly 4,000 Iraqis were in the camp before the SDF left.
Repatriated Iraqis are transferred to Jadaa camp in Nineveh province, which has been designated as the main rehabilitation center for families returning from al-Hol before they are eventually reintegrated and sent back to their hometowns across Iraq.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said on Friday that his agency supported the return of 191 Iraqi nationals from al-Hol to Iraq on Thursday.
“UNHCR teams were on the ground to facilitate the process, from community sensitization and registration to accompanying the convoy to the border, where the returnees were received by the Iraqi authorities,” he added. “With this repatriation, and with today’s return of several vulnerable Syrian families supported by UNHCR and partners, Al-Hol camp will now be practically empty.”
However, the Iraqi migration ministry’s deputy minister denied the repatriation of any nationals in February.
“Before the recent events, a new convoy was scheduled to return, but due to the situation, the process has been delayed,” he said, referring to January’s clashes between the SDF and the Syrian army.