A dire warning has been issued by NGOs as foreign families, linked to suspected Islamic State members, have fled a camp in Syria, raising urgent security and humanitarian concerns.
The al-Hawl camp, located in northeast Syria, previously held around 6,000 women and children from 42 countries, many of whom were related to radical former members of the extremist group. These families were kept separate from the Syrian and Iraqi residents, numbering around 20,000, within the camp.
A pressing issue is the arbitrary detention of all camp residents, as none have been tried or charged for their alleged involvement with IS. Notably, a significant portion of the detainees are young children.
Since the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ceded control of the camp to the Syrian government on January 20th, humanitarian groups have reported that the foreigners' annexe has been almost entirely emptied. Most of the families have reportedly left for Idlib.
Jihan Hanan, who previously directed the al-Hawl camp, stated, "All of the foreign women have escaped during this period. Every night, cars would come and take them to Idlib. It was not an organized process."
The escape of individuals linked to IS from al-Hawl and other detention facilities has long been a concern for the international community. There were warnings that a mass exodus could enable IS to regroup across Syria and Iraq. The US military, in the past month, transferred approximately 3,000 IS detainees to prisons in Iraq, with an expected transfer of an additional 4,000 in the coming days, potentially facilitating the withdrawal of US military forces from Syria.
The exact circumstances of the families' departure from al-Hawl remain unclear. A camp resident of Central Asian descent told The Guardian that she escaped by "crawling through the fence" and is now in Idlib. An NGO worker confirmed at least one case of a woman escaping the camp and crossing into Turkey, suggesting others may have followed suit, but cautioned that the lack of oversight makes it impossible to track the residents' destinations.
The Syrian government has been approached for comment and has previously blamed escapes on the SDF, accusing them of abandoning the facility without coordination with Damascus.
Beatrice Eriksson, a spokesperson for Repatriate the Children, an advocacy group, said, "In the past two weeks, children and mothers have been moved or released in a highly chaotic manner, with no clarity on who is responsible or what protection measures are in place."
During two visits to the camp in the week following its handover to Syrian government forces, The Guardian witnessed cut fences and frequent escape attempts by residents of the foreigners' annexe. Fighters of Central Asian descent were seen taking women from the annexe in their cars, with their ultimate destination unknown. Others were seen clamouring at the outer walls of the camp, pleading with guards to release their relatives.
Almost all of the dozen or so women The Guardian spoke to within the camp expressed their desire to be released to Idlib, where they said relatives were waiting for them. Security guards and fighters expressed sympathy for the detainees, deeming their continued detention an injustice.
Outside the camp's gates, security officers from the interior ministry were on guard. Some officers ran when their walkie-talkies squawked, "They escaped, they escaped!" Their supervising officer laughed as the men ran, joking that if it were up to him, he would simply open the gates.
The destination of the families who left the camp remains uncertain. Some women told humanitarian workers that they believed they would be repatriated, a process requiring the consent of their home governments.
Eriksson expressed concern over the disorganized nature of the release, leaving women and children vulnerable to trafficking or recruitment by violent extremist groups. She urged states to intervene and repatriate their citizens, adding, "Ending arbitrary detention is necessary, but the immediate priority must be to identify and protect these children and families, and to move them through safe, dignified processes involving international cooperation - not to leave them to navigate a conflict zone on their own."
Many states have refused to repatriate their nationals, despite the pleas of Kurdish forces who guarded the camp and humanitarian groups who highlighted the substandard and unlawful detention conditions.
Hanan, the former camp director, expressed her frustration, saying, "We've lost everything, all those years of work on this issue." She shared a video of a camp resident standing in her vandalized office, threatening to find and kill her, referring to her by name and calling her a "pig." Hanan added, "I know this man. I tried to get him released from the camp, but the security agencies deemed him a risk. Now that he's out, I and all the humanitarian workers are in danger."
This situation raises critical questions about the responsibility of states and the international community in addressing the complex challenges posed by the aftermath of the Islamic State's defeat.
