400 people from Deir ez-Zor leave al-Hol camp: RIC

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Syria-based Rojava Information Centre (RIC) reported on Sunday that a batch of 400 people from Deir ez-Zor have left al-Hol camp and returned to their homes.

The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) launched an initiative in Oct 2020 to have Syrians in the camp return to their homes in coordination with Arab tribes.

The RIC said a total of 13,358 ISIS-linked Syrians once held in the camp have been returned in such tribal sponsorship programs since 2019.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the evacuation of Syrians from al-Hol camp was halted more than seven months ago.

SOHR said the last time Syrians returned home from al-Hol camp was in January 2022.

According to UN data, al-Hol is the largest camp for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Syria. It hosts at least 56,000 people, the majority of whom are Syrians and Iraqis. 

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens from al-Hol camp.

Moreover, the AANES in cooperation with Iraq has stepped up measures to repatriate Iraqis.

Read More: Hundreds linked to IS transferred from Syria to Iraq

Syria's autonomous Kurdish region transferred to the Iraqi government more than 600 relatives of ISIS members who were detained at the notorious Al-Hol camp last Friday. 

The local authorities hope to evacuate the camp from Iraqis and Syrians, in order to stabilize the situation in al-Hol camp.