NE Syria: nearly 4,500 Iraqi refugees reach Rojava

HASAKA, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) – On Thursday, nearly 2,000 refugees fled the Islamic State (IS) group’s Iraqi capital of Mosul and reached Hasaka province in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

In the town of Hawl, south of Hasaka, the number of Iraqi refugees exceeded 4,500 people in the Al-Hawl refugee camps last month.

Kurdistan24 correspondent Ekrem Salih interviewed several people who recently arrived from Mosul and its surrounding areas. Salih said that many people refused to talk to the media fearing the safety of their relatives who are still in the city.

Qasim, an Iraqi refugee from Mosul, who arrived last week, talked to Kurdistan24 with a veil over his face because his cousins are still in the city.

Qasim said that although IS authorities are still serving people and giving them some food, people still evade them and prefer staying at home to avoid any arbitrary execution.

“Living conditions here are very bad due to the lack of water and shelter, but it is safe at least, unlike in Mosul where we were in a prison and could not go out to avoid the terrorists outlandish laws,” Qasim said.

Many other refugees said they had to resort to smugglers to make the journey from Mosul. These trips typically took between two days or one week where they traveled through IS-held areas to reach Kurdish-controlled areas of Hasaka.   

Additionally, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Friday that more than 4,000 Iraqi refugees who escaped Mosul and the surrounding areas reached Syria in the past month.

“Since the beginning of May, a total of 4,266 Iraqi refugees have arrived at the Al-Hawl camp, located 14 kilometers from the Iraqi border in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka Governorate,” the report said. 

The refugee camp of Al-Hawl has been rebuilt three times.

During the Gulf War in 1991, the UNHCR established the camp on the southern outskirts of the town. At that time, the camp operated in collaboration with the Syrian government.

After the 2003 Iraq war, the camp was reopened for the Iraqis who fled the country when the US sent troops to the country.

On Nov. 13, 2015, when the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took complete control of Al-Hawl by pushing IS insurgents back, the refugee camp was once again reopened to host the Iraqis fleeing IS.

Reporting by Hisham Arafat

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany