Iraq confirms reception of 50 jihadists and 150 families from Al Hol camp

Aug. 13 () –

The Iraqi government has confirmed the reception of half a hundred Islamic State jihadists in the framework of a series of displacements that in the last hours have also included 150 families of the terrorists, about 700 people, coming from the detention camp of Al Hol, in Syria, where women and children are living in subhuman conditions.

“Thanks to joint agreements and with the aim of combating Islamic State at the national and international level, the Joint Operations Command-JOC has received 50 Islamic State terrorists, Iraqi nationals, through the Rabia border crossing,” according to a statement published by the official Iraqi news agency INA.

Shortly afterwards, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement has pointed out that the jihadists have returned under strict security measures.

“All of them will be subjected to checks before being transferred to their places of residence and, in case of finding any security indicators, they will be arrested,” Ministry spokesman Abbas Jahangiz has made known to INA.

In statements also reported by Al Mayadin, the minister also confirmed that Iraq has also completed preparations for the return of the 150 Iraqi families who have begun to leave the camp. Iraq, in this sense, expects to complete this year the repatriation of more than 500 families, a slow process due to the numerous security and psychological controls they have to undergo.

The minister has recalled in this regard that many families return to a normal life in their places of residence after “undergoing psychological rehabilitation for three or four months,” and many of them have not given at this point “security problems” or “raised suspicions that they are abusive members of society.”

The transfer of the Al Hol IDPs will take four to six months and their destination in Iraq will be the Al Jadaa camp, where they will undergo the aforementioned rehabilitation process.

In June, the United Nations warned that 50 percent of the population in the camp, located in northeastern Syria, are children under the age of twelve and called on the various governments involved to speed up the repatriation process in view of the risk posed by the situation for the region and the world.

The camp, home to some 56,000 people, “is a desolate and sprawling complex of tents under a scorching sun,” while stressing that “many people, particularly children, never asked to be part of this desperate situation with no end in sight” and their situation “only contributes to fueling extremism.”