Newly released footage documents ISIS families fleeing al-Hol Camp without guarding

Videos shared on social media by activists have revealed the escape of dozens of ISIS mercenaries’ families from al-Hol Camp in eastern rural al-Hasakah, in the apparent absence of any security presence or procedures to prevent them from leaving.

The footage shows families exiting the camp openly, with no visible forces assigned to guard the facility or prevent departures, raising widespread questions about the security situation inside.

This development comes after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over the camp’s administration and security to Syria’s Interim Government in late January, following attacks on their positions around the camp by factions affiliated with the Interim Government.

Since then, activists and media outlets have circulated several recordings documenting the facilitation of ISIS families’ departures and their smuggling out of the camp. Sources within humanitarian organizations and eyewitnesses told Agence France-Presse that most foreign families of ISIS mercenaries left the camp following the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces and the takeover of its administration by factions aligned with the Interim Government.

According to the same sources, the section designated for foreign nationals has become nearly empty, with only about 20 families remaining, after previously housing thousands of women and children from multiple nationalities, including Russia and countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia. A large number were reportedly smuggled to Idlib and other areas.

The camp had previously housed around 24,000 individuals, including approximately 15,000 Syrians and more than 6,300 foreign women and children from 42 different nationalities, as most of their home countries continued to refuse their repatriation. Field recordings and eyewitness testimonies have shown nearly deserted streets in some sections of the camp, amid uncertainty surrounding the fate of hundreds of families who had been residing there.

In recent weeks, the camp and its surrounding areas have witnessed heightened security tensions, coinciding with repeated smuggling operations involving ISIS families. Video footage has shown gunfire in the vicinity of the camp, reportedly used as cover for extraction operations.

In a related development, the French newspaper Le Monde quoted an ISIS member who escaped from the “Chinese Comb” prison in Al-Shaddadi as saying that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham stormed the cells on January 18 and released him..

ANHA