Syria is undergoing rapid changes. The new government is taking shape under Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani.
It has a new prime minister and is drafting many new decrees, such as trying to get armed groups to give their weapons to the state and lay down their arms. But Damascus doesn’t control all of Syria. Turkish-backed groups control parts of northern Syria, and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control eastern Syria.
In eastern Syria, there is a camp called Al-Hol, sometimes spelled al-Hawl, where many former ISIS members reside. Recently, CBS News noted there was “uncertainty over the future of Syrian camps holding women and children linked to ISIS.”
The report said the camp holds 6,000 women and children who are linked to ISIS. This isn’t the whole story. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy took a look at the camp in March 2024, the fifth anniversary of the defeat of ISIS.
It said that the local authorities that are linked to the SDF run the camp.
“The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and various NGOs operate several camps for Iraqis, Syrians, and Third Country Nationals (TCNs).
“Two of these camps – Al-Hol and Roj – hold the vast majority of women and children TCNs who traveled to, or were born in ISIS-held (and later AANES-held) territory. Both are closed sites, meaning individuals cannot leave without permission from camp administrators,” according to CBC News.
New government would have to take responsibility over Al-Hol
How did this come to be? When ISIS was defeated by a US-led coalition and the local SDF partner forces in 2019, many of the ISIS members surrendered. They assumed that the Western-backed forces wouldn’t massacre them.
These were ISIS criminals, some of whom had committed genocide in Sinjar and continued to hold Yazidi women and children they had kidnapped in 2014. The outlaws were transported to several detention centers, including Al-Hol.
The camp grew to almost 80,000 people. Over time some were repatriated. There are about 40,000 today, some of whom are not linked to ISIS – but there are hardcore ISIS elements to them.
The Washington Institute report said that the Roj camp has approximately 2,600 individuals, of which 2,100 were foreigners. Many countries refused to take back their ISIS members, some even stripping them of citizenship, meaning they can’t leave Syria.
Those countries basically dumped these ISIS members in eastern Syria. The 70 members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS never bothered to sort this out or support the SDF enough to deal with the camps. Instead, the SDF has been attacked by Turkey, a member of NATO.
This means that the anti-ISIS coalition essentially outsourced and subcontracted holding ISIS detainees to the SDF while also letting a NATO member bomb the rebel group. This puts the SDF in an impossible situation. Today Turkey is threatening to attack more Kurdish areas such as Kobani and also those that were seized from ISIS, such as Raqqa.
Meanwhile, the new government in Damascus wants to retake all of Syria. Al-Hol would need to be one of the places it takes responsibility for. However, there are people from 60 countries in the camp. Iraq has said it might repatriate its citizens by 2027.
Since the coalition never focused on this place, a new generation of ISIS members may be growing up. Areas of the camp contain hardcore ISIS supporters, mostly women, who raise kids in their sectors and indoctrinate them.
It is believed around 60 % of the residents are below 18 years old, and 44 % below age 12, according to a report at the Tahrir Institute. Clearly, the young people have been indoctrinated by the female members of ISIS, who are among the most extreme.
Can the SDF continue to control the camp and deal with threats of ethnic cleansing by the Turkish-backed SNA, which has forces along the Euphrates?
How can it fight these groups with one hand and also administer the camp? If the coalition cares about keeping the detainees in place, then it will need to do more.
Al-Hol is a test case, largely forgotten by the international community. However, it is an important example of policy short-sightedness and what happens when extremists are dumped in an area with the hopes someone else will deal with them.