Two women killed in Syrian refugee camp run by US-backed forces

ByNews Desk- The Cradle 

The murders are the latest in a string of violent incidents taking place at the refugee camp, where tens of thousands live in deplorable conditions

Al-Hawl Camp, Syria (Photo credit: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Three people were killed at Syria’s Al-Hawl refugee camp on 18 April, a camp run by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

An Iraqi refugee, who was 35 years old, was first found dead. Hours later, two unidentified women were found dead in the same camp.

ISIS affiliates are believed to be behind the killings, although investigations are still underway.

The infamous Al-Hawl refugee camp is located in the Hasakah countryside of northeastern Syria.

According to the non-government organization Save the Children, foreign children stranded in these refugee camps could remain in the camp for up to 30 years unless the pace of repatriations is expedited.

“It will take 30 years before foreign children stuck in unsafe camps in northeast Syria can return home if repatriations continue at the current rate,” the UK-based organization says in its report.

Describing the conditions in the camps, which are run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as “dire and unsafe,” the report says that in 2021 alone, 74 children died in Al-Hawl camp, including eight who were murdered.

Hundreds of Iraqi refugees were repatriated on 9 March, but there are still many more who must be processed and repatriated.

The dangerous situation in these camps continues despite the SDF claiming that they have swept the camps to search for potential terrorist threats.

Clashes between the SDF and ISIS militants on 29 March led to the deaths of three people, including a child.

Reports in Arabic media claimed that Al-Hawl has recently been infiltrated by ISIS fighters who escaped from the SDF-run Ghweran prison in Hasakah governorate earlier this year.

Since the end of the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2019, Al-Hawl camp has been home to the wives, widows, and children of ISIS members.

Child rights organizations have previously found that a large percentage of the children in these camps are dying due to “avoidable illness and death, violence, poor water and sanitation, and a limited healthcare system.”