In numbers: Syrians, Iraqis and foreigners in Al-Hol camp

Currently, the camp houses 64,373 people, 6,706 Syrian families, 8,209 Iraqi families, and 2,778 foreign families.

13 October, 2020 02:45

NEWS DESK – AHMED MUHAMMAD

Nowadays, there is talk about evacuating Al-Hol camp from ISIS mercenary families. Al-Hol is located 45 km east of the city of Al-Hasakah, after the head of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council, Ilham Ahmed, said that the council and the Autonomous Administration are considering removing the Syrians from the camp.

Al-Hol camp was established in early 1991, during the Gulf War, by the UNHCR in cooperation with the Syrian government, and following the American intervention in Iraq in 2003, the camp was reopened, and it was controlled by ISIS during the Syrian crisis.

The Al-Hol area was liberated with the camp by the Syrian Democratic Forces in mid-November 2015, then it housed the displaced Syrians fleeing battle areas between the Syrian government and mercenary groups affiliated with Turkey. Later, in October 2016, Iraqi refugees began to arrive in the camp following the operations against ISIS IN Mosul.

The ISIS mercenaries' families that were captivated by the Syrian Democratic Forces, were transferred to this camp.

Al-Hol camp is considered one of the largest camps in the Autonomous Administration regions, and the most dangerous in the world, due to the huge number of families of ISIS mercenaries, and in view of the "murder, torture, escape attempts, and chaos that the camp witnesses."

The presence of ISIS mercenary families in the camp causes great harm to the displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, given their fanatic ideolog.

According to the latest statistics of the Al-Hol camp administration, 17,693 families, including 64,373 people, live in the camp, distributed as follows:

8,209 Iraqi families, including 30,606 people.

6706 Syrian families include 24,223 people.

2778 foreign families include 9544 people of Arab and European nationalities.

According to the administrative authorities of the camp, they cannot determine the number of displaced Syrian families, the Syrian ISIS families, as well as the Iraqis.

However, the camp administration indicated that the number of displaced people in the camp before arrival of ISIS families, was 9500 people, including 6,500 Iraqi refugees and 3,000 displaced Syrians.

Since last year, the camp administration has allowed 27 batches from Deir Ezzor, Raqqa and Tabqa, totaling 4,789 people through the “Return Journey” program based on the “sponsorship” system. It did not join the ranks of ISIS or did not participate in the crimes against the people of the region.

The Autonomous Administration, in cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Council, seeks to reach a working mechanism to expel the Syrians from the camp, while the problem remains with the presence of Iraqi refugees and foreign ISIS families amid their countries' refusal to receive them or bringing them before an international court.

(A)

ANHA