Iraq urged countries on Monday to repatriate their citizens from a sprawling camp in Syria housing tens of thousands linked to the extremist Islamic State group, saying it has become a “source for terrorism.” The statements were made during a conference in Baghdad discussing al-Hol camp in northeast Syria. Iraqi officials, the UN representative in Iraq, some members of the international coalition fighting IS and ambassadors of several countries were present.
Al-Hol Camp — named after a town near the Iraqi border — is an open wound left by Syria’s 12-year conflict.
Tens of thousands of people were taken to the facility after the extremist group’s defeat in Syria in March 2019. The camp holds about 51,000 people, the vast majority women and children, including the wives, widows and other family members of IS militants, mostly Syrians and Iraqis.
There are also around 8,000 women and children from 60 other nationalities who live in a part of the camp known as the Annex.
They are generally considered the most die-hard IS supporters among the camp residents. There have been concerns that children at the camp were being taught extremist ideology by their mothers.
Experts have warned that a future generation of IS fighters could emerge from al-Hol.
“Ending the issue of al-Hol camp has become a top national interest for Iraq,” said Ahmad Sahhaf, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the country’s state news agency.
Sahhaf called on the international community to urge all countries that have citizens at the camp “to repatriate them as soon as possible in order to eventually close the camp” because it has become “a dangerous epicenter” for IS gatherings.