Hundreds of Iraqis repatriated from Syria: SOHR
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Hundreds of Iraqi families have left northeast Syria and returned to Iraq through the al-Yaroubiya border crossing, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported on Thursday.
SOHR said around 450 families were repatriated, who earlier fled from the war in Iraq.
Iraqis refugees, who had fled #Iraq during #ISIS attack to the #AANES areas, return to their areas.
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) March 3, 2022
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An official of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) told AFP on Thursday that around 800 Iraqis returned.
SOHR reported that on Jan 8, 113 Iraqi families were repatriated to Iraq from Syria. Moreover, on Jan 3, another 100 Iraqi families were repatriated.
Repatriating families with ISIS links from Syria to Iraq is part of an agreement between the Kurdish-led autonomous authorities in northeast Syria and Baghdad, SOHR said.
The latest Pentagon Inspector General's quarterly report on the US-led campaign against ISIS, covering the period Oct 1, 2021, to Dec 31, 2021, said, "the Iraqi government has continued to repatriate Iraqi families from the al-Hol displaced person camp in Syria to the Jeddah 1 camp in Ninewa province."
In the report, the United States Department of State (DoS) said: "that though many Iraqi communities reacted negatively to the initial rumors about the repatriations from al-Hol, the Iraqi government proceeded with repatriations discreetly during the quarter, and there have been no visible adverse reactions."
The Permanent Representative of Iraq to the UN, Ambassador Mohammed Hussein Bahr Al-Uloom, told the UN Security Council in late February that since "May 2021, as many as 1,900 terrorists have also been repatriated from Syrian camps."
Moreover, he said Iraq has respected its commitments by facilitating the return of its citizens detained in Al-Hol camp to the Nineveh Governorate over the past three months.
Read More: Former MP in Iraqi parliament criticizes Baghdad for repatriation of ISIS families from Syria
According to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Al Hol is the largest camp for refugees and internally displaced people in Syria, consisting of about 56,000 people. Last year, the camp had 62,000 inhabitants.
Most al-Hol's residents are Iraqis and Syrians, but the camp also includes many foreign families thought to have links to the Islamic State.
The local authorities have attempted to reduce pressure on the displacement camps in northeast Syria by repatriating Iraqis and allowing displaced Syrians to return to their places of origin.
They have also called on foreign countries to repatriate their citizens. A number of countries have repatriated women, children, and orphans.