Fifty ISIS militants repatriated to Iraq from Syria

Women and a child queue for humanitarian aid packages at the Kurdish-run Al Hol camp in north-east Syria. AFP

Fifty ISIS fighters and 168 Iraqi family members of the extremist militants were repatriated from Syria to Iraq on Saturday, an Iraqi official said.

Iraqi authorities “received 50 members of the [ISIS] from the Syrian Democratic Forces”, said the official, who requested anonymity.

They will “be the subject of investigations and will face Iraqi justice”, they said.

The ISIS members were detained in Hasakah, north-east Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition monitor that has tracked the conflict in Syria since an armed uprising against the government broke out in 2011.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces led the battle to dislodge ISIS from the area in 2019.

Additionally, 168 relatives of ISIS members were repatriated from Syria’s Al Hol camp to be relocated to Al Jadaa camp south of Mosul, where they will receive psychiatric treatment, the Iraqi official said.

“Once we receive the assurances of their tribal leaders that they will not face reprisals, they will be sent home.”

Al Hol camp, in Kurdish-controlled north-east Syria, is home to about 50,000 people, including family members of suspected extremists.

Among them are displaced Syrians, Iraqi refugees and more than 10,000 foreigners from about 60 countries.

In March, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for the swift repatriation of foreigners held in Al Hol.

Nearly half of the camp’s population is under the age of 12 and residents are “deprived of their rights, vulnerable, and marginalised”, Mr Guterres said in a statement during a visit to Iraq.

“I have no doubt to say that the worst camp that exists in today’s world is Al Hol, with the worst possible conditions for people and with enormous suffering for the people that have been stranded there for years,” he said.

Since May 2021, hundreds of families have been transferred from Al Hol to Al Jadaa in Iraq, with a number of those going on to flee.

The repatriation to Iraq of relatives of fighters who joined the extremist group that controlled one-third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017 has sparked opposition.

In December 2021, Iraqi authorities announced plans to close Al Jadaa, but little progress has been made, with the repatriation proving challenging and prompting opposition from local residents.