217 Syrians leave Syria's notorious al-Hol camp: RIC
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A total of 53 Syrian families were released from the notorious al-Hol camp in the northeastern Hasakah province on Monday, the Syria-based Rojava Information Center (RIC) reported on Sunday.
217 al-Hol camp residents (53 families) have been released from the camp to their native Deir ez-Zor today.
— Rojava Information Center (@RojavaIC) January 16, 2022
According to @RojavaIC's own calculations, this dips the number of people in al-Hol under 56k, or around 55,956, including:
🇮🇶: 28,540
🇸🇾: 18,882
🌍: 8,534 pic.twitter.com/wAjnu96A9l
"217 al-Hol camp residents (53 families) have been released from the camp to their native Deir ez-Zor today," the RIC tweeted on Sunday.
According to the RIC, the al-Hol camp now contains 55,956 people, including 28,540 Iraqis, 18,882 Syrians, and 8,534 foreigners.
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 living there with their children.
Al-Hol is home to thousands of suspected ISIS members and their families who occasionally commit murder and cause violence.
Local authorities decided in October 2020 to expedite the departure of displaced Syrian families as part of a new reform program. Most of the Syrians in the camp are from Deir al-Zor or other Arab-majority areas like Manbij and Raqqa.
Iraq has been reluctant to repatriate many of its citizens who are suspected ISIS members and sympathizers.
On Jan. 8, however, a total of 403 Iraqis, along with 50 male detainees, were repatriated from al-Hol, the RIC earlier reported.
As a result, a total of 540 Iraqi al-Hol families (around 2150 individuals) have been repatriated so far, with 207 in 2022 alone.
Read More: 403 Iraqis and 50 detainees repatriated from Syria's al-Hol camp: RIC
According to USAID, 80 percent of Iraqi refugees in the camp that were recently surveyed "expressed a desire to return to Iraq."