Syria's notorious al-Hol camp faces sudden uptick in violence: RIC
"As Asayish forces repelled the attack, 2 people were killed - both Iraqis."
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Security forces in Syria's notorious al-Hol camp launched an operation on Sunday night after four people were killed there in the preceding three days.
Last night, security forces in al-Hol launched a raid on the camp, leading to at least one arrest. The past 3 days have seen a number of murders in al-Hol. pic.twitter.com/4zydP5f00u
— Rojava Information Center (@RojavaIC) November 14, 2021
"According to the Asayish, early on Friday, the camp's reception center was attacked with light weapons. As Asayish forces repelled the attack, 2 people were killed - both Iraqis," the Rojava Information Centre (RIC) said in a tweet.
"Also on Friday, Abu Sultan al-Iraqi, President of the local Iraqi Council, was gunned down."
On Sunday, an Iraqi woman in the camp was shot in the head.
The RIC said that all these attacks were most likely inspired or planned by ISIS.
The majority of al-Hol's residents are Iraqis and Syrians. However, there are also many foreign residents and their children who are thought to have links to ISIS living there.
Al-Hol has over 60,000 residents altogether.
Local authorities decided in October 2020 to expedite the departure of displaced Syrian families as part of a new reform program.
Moreover, they have called on the Iraqi government to repatriate Iraqi civilians there to Iraq.
According to the latest monthly report from RIC, there were no killings in the al-Hol camp in October.
Clara Moore, a Syria-based researcher at the RIC, told Kurdistan 24 that even though al-Hol is often viewed as "a camp for ISIS affiliates, it is important to remember that at least 10,000 Iraqis still living in the camp came to al-Hol while fleeing ISIS' advance between 2016 and 2018."
"In 2018, the Iraqi government agreed to take back 5,000 of their non-ISIS affiliated nationals from al-Hol," she said.
"To date, only 868 of these 5,000 have been returned," she added. "Three hundred families that have already passed security clearance are still waiting in the camp."
"As these most recent murders make plain, the longer they have to wait, the longer they are exposed to danger."
According to RIC statistics, there have been a total of 85 murders in al-Hol in 2021.
