Killings continue in notorious al-Hol camp in New Year 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An unidentified terrorist killed a displaced Syrian man in northeast Syria's notorious al-Hol camp on the first day of the New Year, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Saturday.

The individual was killed Sunday at dawn in front of the mosque in the fourth section of al-Hol camp by a gunman with suspected ISIS affiliation.

According to SOHR statistics, ISIS-affiliated suspects carried out ten murders in the al-Hol camp in December 2021, all of them Syrians or Iraqis.

SOHR also reported that on December 31, the Asayish imposed a curfew in the camp after the death of a displaced Syrian man from Aleppo after he was shot dead by alleged ISIS affiliates in the facility.

The terrorist organization has managed to create instability in the camp by smuggling in weapons.

The majority of al-Hol's residents are Iraqis and Syrians. However, there are also many foreign residents who are believed to have ISIS links and live there with their children.

Altogether, there are about 60,000 residents in al-Hol. Local authorities have attempted to reduce pressure on the camp by repatriating Iraqis and expediting the departure of displaced Syrian families.

In May, the Iraqi government repatriated 381 Iraqi refugees from the camp to Nineveh province's Jed'dah 1 internally displaced person (IDP), according to a report of USAID.

However, thousands of Iraqi refugees are still in al-Hol due to Iraqi opposition to the return of Iraqi ISIS families to Iraq.