Iraq calls for closure of Al-Hawl camp, repatriation of ISIS families

ByNews Desk- The Cradle 

The majority are Iraqis and Syrians, but about 8,000 women and children of 60 other nationalities remain there and are generally considered the most fanatical ISIS supporters

Al-Hol Camp in north east Syria (Photo Credit Ali Hashisho/Reuters)

The Iraqi government has called for the closure of the Al-Hawl camp in northeast Syria, which houses tens of thousands of ISIS family members, saying that it has become a “source for terrorism,” the National reported on 13 June.

When ISIS was defeated in 2019 and lost its last territory, the town of Baghouz in northeast Syria, thousands of the group’s fighters were detained by the Kurdish-dominated and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The wives and children of many ISIS fighters were also detained and placed in Al-Hawl camp near the Syrian-Iraqi border.

“Ending the issue of Al-Hawl camp has become a top national interest for Iraq,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Sahhaf said.

He called for all countries that have citizens at Al-Hawl to follow Iraq’s lead and “repatriate them as soon as possible in order to eventually close the camp” because it had become “a dangerous epicenter” for ISIS gatherings.

Iraq has repatriated 5,569 of its citizens from Al-Hawl in recent weeks, according to Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qasim Al Araji.

About 25,000 Iraqis remain at the camp, making up nearly half its population.

Most in the camp are Iraqis and Syrians, but about 8,000 women and children of 60 other nationalities remain in the camp and are generally considered the most fanatical ISIS supporters. These countries have largely refused to repatriate their citizens, who traveled to join ISIS as part of the US, UK, French, Saudi, Qatari, and Turkish war on Syria that began in 2011.

The refusal comes despite concerns that children at the camp are being taught extremist ideology by their mothers and will form a future generation of ISIS fighters.

The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria has been urging countries to repatriate their citizens from the camp for years.

On 10 June, the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) announced it would begin prosecuting ISIS fighters following the international community’s failure to do so.

Prosecuting foreign ISIS fighters and repatriating their family members is sensitive for many Western countries, in particular Britain, given their past support for ISIS.

In 2011, the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkiye supported al-Qaeda militants from Iraq and Lebanon with funding and weapons to topple the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad.

An August 2012 US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report made clear that Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and al-Qaeda were the driving forces of the US and Gulf-backed insurgency and that the US and its allies supported the establishment of a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria as part of the effort to topple Assad and divide the country.

ISIS emerged from the insurgency in 2013 and continued to enjoy strong support from Assad’s opponents after establishing just such a principality, or caliphate, in 2014. Support for ISIS was strongest from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

Between 2013 and 2019, thousands of militants from around the world, including Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia, joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq.