HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Wives of the Islamic State (ISIS) militants stranded in Hawl camp east of Hasakah, northeast Syria, are either waiting for their countries to repatriate them while part of them resort to smugglers to escape the hideous camp amid the international community persistent ignoring of repatriation calls.
Five years after the defeat of the so-called ISIS “caliphate” in Syria, the issue of families perceived as associated with the group, known as ISIS families, still poses considerable security, social and economic challenges to the limited-capability Kurdish-led local authority in northeast Syria.
An Iraqi female refugee, a wife of an ISIS militant, who resides in the Hawl camp, demands she is returned to her country, “We came from Baghouz five years ago. Life in the camp is miserable; high prices, raids and searching.”
“We do not want to live in Syria or the camp,” she said in an interview with North Press.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, defeated ISIS after fierce battles in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, bringing an end to the ISIS so-called caliphate.
After Baghouz, thousands of ISIS fighters were transferred to prisons, while their families were transferred to Hawl and Roj camps in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)-held areas.
“Each four months, a batch of 150 families go to Iraq. Some families have registered to travel since last year and they are still here,” the Iraqi female refugee added.
“How long should we wait to go to Iraq? At least, 200 or 300 families should travel in each batch,” she noted.
The delay of regular repatriation trips urged many Iraqi women in the camp to resort to smugglers to get out, according to the Iraqi woman who preferred not to be named.
Some Iraqi families paid about $1,400 while others paid $10,000 to smugglers to get them out of the camp, while others paid to include their names on the lists for the regular trips to leave the camp, the woman further explained.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi minister of Migration and Displacement, Ivan Faiq Jabro, told the Iraqi News Agency that “the visit of the Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, is an encouraging step for the rest of the countries to repatriate their nationals from Hawl camp, and many of them have begun to repatriate their nationals already.”
The Iraqi minister estimated the number of Iraqis in Hawl camp at about 31,000 while noting that not all of them belong to ISIS, as “whoever is proven to be an ISIS member will be taken directly to the courts.”
The Iraqi government continues to repatriate its nationals from the Hawl camp in batches, and with a regular program, they are subjected to security filtering in Nineveh Governorate before returning them to their areas of origin.
On Feb.19, Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, said “Hawl Camp includes 60,000 people, half of whom are Iraqis, and the government is returning 150 Iraqi families per month.”
On Jan.31st, the security forces in the Hawl camp thwarted an escape attempt for women from the families of ISIS family members.
Tens of thousands of women and children of ISIS families from about 60 countries are still in the two dangerous camps of Hawl and Roj within the AANES areas in northeast Syria.
A sector dedicated to ISIS families within the Hawl camp is called “al-Muhajirat” the foreigners’ sector, which holds ISIS women of foreign nationalities who still consider themselves responsible for the implementation of the group’s ideology.
Those women left their countries and joined ISIS; their number is about 8,200, according to the camp’s administration statistics.
Another Iraqi female refugee in the Hawl camp wishes she had the money to pay smugglers to get out of the camp.
“People who have money can get out, while those who do not stay at the camp,” she told North Press.
In January, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that it, in cooperation with their partners SDF, would continue to reduce the number of residents at the Hawl Camp.
Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, CENTCOM commander stated the camp “has long served as a flashpoint of human suffering and a recruiting opportunity for ISIS. That is why repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of these residents are so critical for Iraq, for the region and the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
The AANES, which does not have the resources or structures to meet the needs of the tens of thousands of ISIS family members they currently guard, continues calling for the countries to repatriate their nationals and establish international tribunals for the ISIS militants because they pose a significant risk to the civilians in the region.
Despite the repeated calls, a variety of Asian countries, have taken small numbers of their citizens back from the camp, particularly women and children. However, western European countries have been particularly reluctant to repatriate their citizens, claiming that many of them still represent a threat to European security and agreeing to repatriate only orphaned children.
Hawl Camp, 45 km east of Hasakah, is a house for 55.829 individuals, including 28.725 Iraqis, 18.850 Syrians and 8.254 foreign nationalities, according to the latest statistics obtained by North Press.
The camp witnesses murders with different methods, most notably firearms.