Syria’s al-Hol camp emptied of foreigners, sources say
An annex of northeastern Syria’s al-Hol camp that hosted 6,200 foreign nationals linked to the Islamic State group (IS) is now almost empty following the transfer of responsibility from Kurdish-led forces to the Syrian government, diplomatic and local NGO sources told Middle East Eye.
A western diplomat and a regional security analyst said the annex, where the families of suspected IS fighters were held, has been completely vacated.
The analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was cleared out on Wednesday night but the circumstances - including where the detainees have been taken to and why - are unclear.
Some sources suggest the women and children were moved by the Syrian government. Others say they were smuggled out or escaped.
Anne Speckhard of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, who has worked extensively on foreign women and IS fighters in Syria, told Middle East Eye: “All of the 6,279 foreign detainees in camp al-Hol are no longer there.”
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The foreigners in al-Roj, a camp holding many detainees with western citizenship, are still believed to be under Kurdish control, she added.
Speckhard told MEE that Bosnian women held in al-Hol have now been transferred by the Syrian army to Idlib, a province to the west.
“These women are now telling their family members that they cannot leave their homes where they are staying in Idlib and fear arrest by the Syrian government,” she said.
Another source that worked with detainees in al-Hol and al-Roj told MEE that at least some of the foreign nationals are now in Idlib.
“I am not 100 percent sure it is the government who made these transfers, or if it is other groups,” they said.
The source said the foreign women in Idlib were not detained. “From all we know, these families want to be repatriated to their countries.”
Middle East Eye has asked the Syrian government for comment.
Instability and smuggling
Since the collapse of the Islamic State group in 2019, al-Hol has been one of the world’s largest detention centres, holding people from 42 countries with alleged links to the militant group.
It was previously administered by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led armed group that was the United States’ local ally in the fight against IS.
Control of al-Hol and other sites that hold IS detainees in northeast Syria, like al-Roj camp and al-Shaddadi prison, has been contested since tensions between the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the SDF broke into sporadic violence.
On 30 January, Damascus and the SDF agreed a deal to integrate Kurdish-run northeast Syria into the central state, including the prison camps.
The transfer of authority in the camps has caused instability, leading to prison breaks and abuse.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, al-Hol previously held a total of 26,500 people, including 14,000 Syrians, 6,200 third-country nationals and 4,000 Iraqis. Approximately 60 percent of them were children.
A local NGO worker who worked inside al-Hol told MEE all the Syrians and foreigners have left, while Iraqis are waiting for their turn.
Two local sources speculated that some people had been smuggled out of the camp. Another local NGO worker blamed foreign fighters for smuggling out the foreign women.
Beirut-based news site Al Modon reported last week that smuggling operations with suspected links to former foreign fighters were using security gaps to remove people from al-Hol.
“These networks worked to extract women and children - including children from the camp - and transport them along complex routes before they reached Idlib,” Al Modon reported.
“The data indicates that most of the smuggled families hold foreign nationalities similar to those of fighters who had been involved with ISIS,” the newspaper wrote, using an alternative acronym for IS.
Al Modon also reported that Syrian security forces had raised a security alert in Idlib and al-Hol and were trying to track smuggling networks and the parties providing them with logistical and financial support.
Two weeks ago, the Syrian army declared the area around al-Hol a security zone.
Syrian state-owned newspaper Thawra reported on 10 February that Qutaiba Idlbi, director of American affairs at the foreign ministry, said IS detainees would be put through a judicial process.
Those convicted of serious offences would be prosecuted, while others would be rehabilitated and resettled or returned to their countries of origin.
Maya Foa, director of British legal organsiation Reprieve, told MEE that the UK should repatriate families with UK citizenship as soon as possible.
"Every day that passes brings new dangers for the families in the detention camps. The UK government could follow the lead of its allies and repatriate these families, but instead they have abandoned them, leaving British mothers and children in fear of their lives,” she said.
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