Over 800 Iraqis Return From Syria Camp

AFP :

More than 800 Iraqi nationals left northeast Syria’s Al-Hol camp on Thursday, the facility’s director told AFP, the latest batch to quit the notorious camp that holds suspected relatives of Islamic State group jihadists.

Jihan Hanan, director of the Kurdish-administered camp, said that “there are approximately 850 people departing on Friday”.

She added that since the start of the year, about 10,000 Iraqis have left Al-Hol in 11 batches.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in Syria’s northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to IS, more than six years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.

Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest camp, and its residents have been living in dire conditions.

Umm Mahmud, 60, an Iraqi woman departing the camp, told AFP: “We’ve suffered greatly in Al-Hol, psychologically, physically and financially.”
“Look at the children, look how happy they are. It’s like a holiday,” she said.