First batch of the year leaves Hawl for Syria’s Manbij
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, the administration of the Hawl camp, east of Hasakah, northeast Syria, prepared to release a new batch of Syrian IDPs to their native Manbij region.
This batch is the first to leave the camp since early this year and the 32nd to leave since such returns began.
The Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), through the mediation of tribal leaders, issued a decision in October 2020 stipulating the evacuation of all displaced Syrians who wished to leave the camp and return to their areas.
However, all operations to return Hawl’s Syrians were halted after an attack on al-Sinaa in the city of Hasakah, northeast Syria, in January 2022 by operatives of the Islamic State (ISIS).
The prison break sparked a ten-day battle between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led Coalition, and ISIS militants, and ended when the SDF regained control over the prison.
Kim Amin, an official at Hawl camp, told North Press that this is the first batch to leave the camp since the beginning of 2023.
The batch includes 61 families, numbering 225 individuals, according to Amin.
He added that the families will leave the camp today, May 29, for Manbij and its countryside after finishing the process of verifying their identities.
Hawl Camp, 45 km east of the city of Hasakah, houses 55,829 individuals, including 28,725 Iraqis, 18,850 Syrians and 8,254 of foreign nationalities, according to the latest statistics obtained by North Press.
The camp regularly witnesses murders by different methods, most notably firearms. The management of the camp says it fears that the latest Turkish threats of invading areas of northern Syria will pave the way for ISIS to reorganize its ranks.