95 Iraqi families repatriated from Syria’s al-Hol camp: RIC

“Over half of al-Hol camp's 57,000 residents (roughly 29,000) are Iraqis.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2022/01/05 12:12

Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria (Photo: AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Ninety-five Iraqi families have been repatriated from Syria’s notorious al-Hol camp, the Syria-based Rojava Information Center (RIC) reported on Tuesday.

“While the precise number of individuals is not known, judging by similarly-sized groups, this would mean around 1,250 Iraqis have left the camp thus far out of a total of 5,000 agreed on by a 2018 Iraqi-AANES (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) agreement,” the RIC said.

“Over half of al-Hol camp's 57,000 residents (roughly 29,000) are Iraqis and represent an overwhelming majority of ISIS victims in the camp. In 2021, 93 residents were assassinated in al-Hol,” it added.

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

USAID has said that approximately "80 percent of recently surveyed Iraqi refugees at Al Hol camp expressed a desire to return to Iraq."