No specific date to repatriate Iraqis from Syria’s Hawl, Ministry of Migration said
ERBIL, Iraq (North Press) – On Thursday, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced announced that it has not received any orders regarding the repatriation of Iraqi families from Hawl Camp, northeast Syria.
This came in response to a question by North Press office in Erbil to the ministry about a statement of the head of the Regions and Governorates Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, where he revealed Iraq’s intention to repatriate 100 Iraqi families from Hawl Camp.
The media office of the head of the Parliament’s Regions and Governorates Committee, Sherwan al-Dobrani, said on Wednesday that al-Dobrani had revealed “the intention to bring back about 100 families of ISIS, with a total of about 700 persons, from Hawl Camp in Syria to al-Jad’a Camp, south of Mosul, in the coming days.”
In a statement, al-Dobrani warned of the danger of this step, “which represents a threat to the security and stability of Nineveh Governorate, given that these families still carry the ideas and ideology of ISIS,” according to his point of view.
While the Ministry’s spokesman, Ali Abbas said that “the ministry has monitoring towards returning the families from Hawl Camp,” adding that “the Hawl case is not new, as it houses more than 30,000 Iraqis.”
“Some of the Iraqis in Hawl Camp want to return, and the ministry has been dealing with their case since 2017,” Abbas added.
Regarding the statements by the Iraqi Regions and Governorates Committee in the Parliament that talked about the intention to bring back a batch of ISIS families of Iraqi nationality, Abbas said that there is intention, but no specific date or mechanism has been set for this step.
He stressed that the ministry did not receive orders in this regard, but it is fully ready to carry out its duty, as the Iraqi state is keen to take care of its citizens wherever they are.