Exodus of ISIL-linked prisoners from Syria camp raises security concerns | Syria’s war news

The number of residents at one of Syria’s most notorious camps has dropped rapidly, from around 24,000 earlier this year to the low thousands at most, humanitarian, diplomatic and local sources from the country’s northeast told Al Jazeera.

The al-Hol campnear the Syria-Iraq border, held mostly internally displaced Syrians and approximately 6,000 third-country nationals with ties to ISIL (ISIS). It was run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) before a government offensive in Syria’s northeast in January forced the SDF to withdraw.

Since then, the camp has seemingly come under government control.

Details and stories about how families and individuals left the camp, which at its peak in 2019 held around 73,000 families, are conflicting. What is clear, according to sources on the ground, is that most Syrian citizens have left al-Hol for their hometowns, while many of the foreigners have traveled west to the government strongholds of Idlib or Aleppo governorates.

The uncertainty and lack of information has left analysts, diplomats and humanitarian workers with security and human rights concerns.

Freed or kidnapped?

In 2019, ISIL was defeated in Syria by a coalition of the United States, which included the SDF. Al-Hol, located in the Hasakah governorate, was then established by the SDF after it took control of large parts of northeastern Syria, with US support.

It has become the largest camp housing people suspected of links to ISIL. Of the total number of people in al-Hol in January, Syrians made up 14,500, and Iraqis 4,000. About 6,200 people of other nationalities were also held in a highly secured part of the camp, with more than 95 percent of them being women and children, according to Save the Children.

The SDF retained control of al-Hol during the final years of Syria’s al-Assad regime, which finally fell in December 2024.

The Syrian government’s security forces entered al-Hol on January 21 to take control of the site. But humanitarian organizations have been forced to stop working in the camp in recent days due to the conditions that followed the SDF’s abandonment and the government’s efforts to restore security.

It is unclear exactly how people got married in the camp. Some of those held there told aid workers that they had been told – it is unclear by whom – to get on buses. Others said that people pushed their way out of the camp and that guards were unable to stop them.

Smugglers are also reported to have transported Syrians and foreigners.

Al Jazeera could not confirm any of the reports, but aid workers and diplomatic sources believe the escape methods described are feasible due to the size of the camp.

“There is still unclear, verified information about how the mass transfers from al-Hol to Idlib, and possibly other parts of Syria, took place after the SDF left the camp,” Beatrice Eriksson, spokeswoman for the Swedish branch of Repatriate the Children, told Al Jazeera.

She said the information she was able to gather indicated that the movement of families “did not occur in a controlled or officially coordinated manner.”

“Families who have been relocated cannot be sure whether they have been released or effectively kidnapped,” she said. “That level of uncertainty alone illustrates the acute protection risks these families face.”

A source with the SDF’s former administrative body told Al Jazeera there was no “prior coordination between the SDF or the autonomous administration and Damascus” on al-Hol.

“Unfortunately, everything happened suddenly,” he said.

Major security and humanitarian concerns

With so many families leaving the camp by unspecified and seemingly uncoordinated methods, analysts and diplomatic sources say they have serious security and humanitarian concerns.

Shortly after the news broke of families leaving al-Hol, a video appeared online of a man in the office of former camp director Jihan Hanan. The man, who identified himself as Abu Sleiman al-Haskawi, called Hanan a pig and threatened her.

“Unfortunately, everything ended, and I became afraid for myself and my children,” Hanan told Al Jazeera.

The man in the video has not declared an affiliation. Analysts and diplomatic sources worry that some of the people who escaped would join groups trying to undermine Syria’s stability.

TO a report released last Wednesday found that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and two of his senior cabinet ministers had been targeted by ISIL in five failed assassination attempts in the past year alone.

“If radicalized detainees are able to support ISIS attacks, or a resurgence in the next year or two, it could be a major blow to the Syrian government,” Caroline Rose, director of the crime-conflict nexus and military withdrawal portfolios at the New Lines Institute, told Al Jazeera.

“Already, during the transfer of detention centers with the SDF, there was a breakout attempt under government supervision. There were also ISIS attacks on both government and civilian targets. If this trend seriously increases in the next year, I think the Syrian government will have to face increasing … mistrust.”

For years, rights groups and international organizations have called on the world community to act on the problem of al-Hol. Many people were held there without ever having a trial. Many could not be repatriated because their countries of origin refused to receive them.

And now that many of the families are gone, new humanitarian concerns have emerged.

“While ending arbitrary, indefinite detention in places like al-Hol is important, the way it unfolded is incredibly risky,” Sarah Sanbar, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera.

“When women and children leave in a chaotic, unplanned way, they often only become more vulnerable to trafficking, exploitation or recruitment by armed groups. So the immediate priority really needs to be to identify and protect them.”

Sanbar added that “countries whose nationals are involved must act and repatriate them in a coordinated, safe and dignified manner. Women and children must not be left to navigate smuggling routes and move front lines on their own.”

‘I fell asleep in fear’

Conditions in al-Hol have also been criticized by rights groups and people familiar with the camp.

A 2022 report from Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said people were not given enough food or water, phones were banned and medical care was inadequate. People interviewed by MSF for the report described the camp as a prison.

A little over 40 km (25 miles) away from al-Hol is the red campwhich also harbors ISIL-linked people. Like al-Hol, it is based in Hasakah province, but Roj is still under SDF control. And following the recent developments at al-Hol, residents at Roj are wondering what’s next for them.

A European woman at the camp told Al Jazeera that prisoners fear the camp could be demolished and they would have to leave.

“I am with my children,” she said. “Honestly, at night there are many raids by the SDF. Sometimes they even hit the women… To be honest, I often fall asleep in fear.”

The woman in Roj said she wanted to be repatriated but was afraid she would be sent to Idlib and stuck in Syria. Her compatriots who were in al-Hol are now in Idlib, she said. “They are being held captive and are not yet registered. They want deportation; they don’t want to stay in Syria.”

“Our (homeland) authorities are not responding. We are asking them for guidance on this situation, but they are not commenting,” she said. “We’ve been begging them to play us for years.”