Return of 192 Iraqi families from al-Hol camp in northern Syria causes controversy

Iraqi security official announced on Sunday that 192 Iraqi families, comprising 776 people, were heading back to their country after leaving al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, which houses relatives of members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had pointed out on Saturday that buses carrying those families had left al-Hol camp for Iraqi.

After their arrival, they will have to spend weeks or months in the Iraqi al-Jadaa camp before being allowed to return to their original areas.

A security official in Iraq, who declined to be named, confirmed the return of hundreds of people, explaining that the Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Displacement coordinates these return operations with the autonomous administration in northeastern Syria.

The return of relatives of terrorist group members is still causing controversy among the population in Iraq, which fought a three-year war that ended in late 2017 with the expulsion of the group after it controlled about one-third of the country’s territory.

In an effort to reduce the hostility that these families may face after their return from Syria, their members are first housed in al-Jadaa camp, where they undergo security checks and “a phase of psychological rehabilitation,” according to Iraqi officials.

Despite the challenges, Iraq is one of the few countries that regularly repatriates its citizens from al-Hol camp, a move that has been welcomed by the United Nations and the United States.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem al-Araji announced in early November that “1,567 families had been transferred from al-Hol camp and taken to al-Jadaa camp for rehabilitation,” pointing out that “900 Iraqi families had been returned to their original areas,” according to the official Iraqi News Agency.

He also revealed that “2,945 Iraqi terrorism suspects” had returned, and that “most of them had been tried under Iraqi laws.”