The Al-Hawl refugee camp (also Al-Hol refugee camp or simply Al-Hawl camp, , ) is a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

on the southern outskirts of the town of

al-Hawl Al-Hawl (), also spelled al-Hole, al-Hol, al-Hool and al-Houl, is a town in eastern al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, under control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. It is the administrative center of the Al-Haw ...

in northern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, close to the Syria-Iraq border, which holds individuals displaced from the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

. The camp is nominally controlled by the US-backed

Syrian Democratic Forces The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurds in Syria, Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed Left-wing politics, left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration ...

(SDF) but according to the U.S. Government, much of the camp is run by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who use the camp for indoctrination and recruitment purposes. As of February 2021, the camp's population was more than 60,000 having grown from 10,000 at the beginning of 2019 after the SDF took the last of the Islamic State's territory in

in the

Battle of Baghuz Fawqani The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, that began on 9 ...

. The refugees are women and children from many countries, primarily Syria and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. As of mid-2023, the camp population had fallen below 50,000 due to repatriations.

Background

The camp was originally established for Iraqi refugees in early 1991, during the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, and was later reopened after the 2003 invasion of Iraq as one of three camps at the Iraqi–Syrian border.

Demographics

While at the beginning of 2019 the camp held about 10,000 people its size increased dramatically with the collapse of ISIL. By February 2021, the camp's population was estimated at more than 60,000. An estimate in September 2019 indicated that the camp held about 20,000 women and 50,000 children from the former

(ISIL) guarded by 400 SDF militia fighters.

Administration and conditions in the camp

In the context of the Syrian Civil War and the takeover of al-Hawl by the SDF, the camp, alongside the Ayn Issa refugee camp has become a center for refugees from the fighting between the SDF and ISIL during the SDF campaign in Deir ez-Zor and the camp held approximately 10,000 refugees in early December 2018. In April 2018, a

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

outbreak killed 24 people in the camp. During the

in December 2018, the camp saw a massive influx of refugees in a series of massive civilian evacuations, with people fleeing the fierce fighting between the SDF and ISIL. Conditions along the road to the camp, including in screening centers for ISIL operatives, have been described as "extremely harsh" with limited food, water, shelter and no health services. As of 4 February 2019, at least 35 children and newborns had also reportedly died either en route or shortly after arriving in the camp, mostly due to hypothermia. Aid organizations feared

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

and other diseases could break out from the overflowing camp. The UN stated that 84 people, mostly children, died on the way to al-Hawl since December 2018. Families of ISIL fighters are kept at a separate guarded section of the camp after repeated violent incidents between them and other members of the camp. In February 2019, Zehra Duman, an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n who married an Australian jihadi fighter shortly after her arrival, told her mother she and her two young children were living in the camp. She told her mother that there was a terrible shortage of food, and she feared her six-month-old daughter would starve to death. In early 2019, pregnant ISIL member Shamima Begum was found in the al-Hawl camp. Her newborn son died within weeks of birth. In March 2019, the former American citizen and former ISIL member

Hoda Muthana Hoda Muthana (; born October 28, 1994) is a U.S.-born Yemeni woman who emigrated from the United States to Syria to join ISIS in November 2014. She surrendered in January 2019 to coalition forces fighting ISIS in Syria and has been denied access ...

and her 18-month-old son were also reported to be living in the camp. At least 100 people have died during the trip, or shortly after arriving at the camp since December 2018. In April 2019, women and girls at the camp told a female journalist, "Convert, convert!" urging her to recite the

shahada The ''Shahada'' ( ; , 'the testimony'), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there is no Ilah, god but God in Islam, God ...

. They told her, "If you became Muslim and cover (your body and face) like us and became a member of our religion, you would not be killed". Many of them prayed for the caliphate of ISIL to return. The women justified the genocide of Yazidis by ISIL and ISIL's taking of Yazidi sex slaves. An Iraqi woman said, "If they don't convert to Islam and they don't become Muslim like us and worship Allah, then they deserve it." In a report published in April 2019,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

journalist Quentin Sommerville described the camp as "an overflowing vessel of anger and unanswered questions," where some women "cling to their hate-fuelled ideology, others beg for a way out - a way home." Quentin quoted a Moroccan-Belgian woman, a former nurse who grabbed her niqab saying: "This is my choice. In Belgium I couldn't wear my niqab - this is my choice. Every religion did something wrong, show us the good." The woman saw there was no need to apologise for the ISIL attack in Brussels in 2016 and blamed the West and its air-strikes on Baghouz for their dire conditions. A report in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' from September 2019 describes the increased radicalization within the camp where conditions are dismal, security lax, and people who do not follow ISIL ideology live in fear. On 28 November 2019, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent announced that over 36,000 of the camp's inhabitants had received aid from the organization at clinics established in the camp and via a mobile medical team there. In October 2020, in an attempt to address the situation of the overpopulation of the camp, it was announced that the authorities of the

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a ''de facto'' Autonomous administrative division, autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and E ...

(AANES) decided to release all the Syrian nationals from the camp, which account for about half of the population of the camp. There would still remain over 25,000 Iraqi and 10,000 people from other nationalities in the refugee camp. In October 2020, SDF announced plans to free thousands of Syrians held at the Al-Hawl refugee camp. The process was slow, at the beginning of 2022 there were still around 56,500 people living in the camp. During January and February 2021, 21 people were killed by cells of the

which was more than triple the number of people killed in recent months in what the

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

described as the "Al-Hawl mini-state." Operations at the camp were adversely affected by the 2025 suspension of US foreign aid.

Repatriation efforts

Repatriation is difficult as many camp residents have become radicalized and pose a potential threat to their home country. Sommerville indicated that "western governments prevaricate" or may not have plans to take people back. It was reported in September 2020 that Kurdish authorities had transferred 50

n nationals from al-Hawl camp to the smaller Roj camp where, it was claimed that there was more of a focus on re-education and rehabilitation. The Australian government has lacked the political will to repatriate its nationals from Syria in fear of bringing radicalized individuals into the country. Finland has said (as of Q3 2023) that it is unable to repatriate remaining children that have a Finnish parent mainly due to their mothers' lack of cooperation.https://yle.fi/a/74-20043690.

YLE Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

.fi. Retrieved 2023-08-05

References

{{Reflist, refs = {{cite news , url = https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690267966/who-warns-of-dire-conditions-deaths-of-children-at-refugee-camp-in-syria , title = WHO Warns Of Dire Conditions, Deaths Of Children At Refugee Camp In Syria , work =

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, author = Francesca Paris , date = 2019-01-31 , page = , location = , isbn = , language = , trans-title= , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190313113344/https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690267966/who-warns-of-dire-conditions-deaths-of-children-at-refugee-camp-in-syria , archivedate = 2019-03-13 , access-date = 2019-03-14 , url-status = live , quote = At least 29 children and newborns have died over the past two months in or on their way to the al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria, the World Health Organization says, as the camp struggles to deal with cold winter conditions and an influx of displaced people. {{cite news , url = https://stj-sy.com/en/view/519 , title = By the Beginning of April 2018, 24 Deaths of Typhoid were Recorded in the Camp, mostly Women and Children, Besides 269 Infections , work = Syrians for Truth and Justice , date = 2018-04-30 , page = , location = , isbn = , language = , trans-title= , access-date = 2019-03-14 , quote = {{cite news , url = https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-isis-bride-shamima-begums-14106294 , title = ISIS bride Shamima Begum's baby son 'dies in Syria' , work = The Mirror (UK) , author = Sophia Evans , date = 2019-03-08 , location = , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190309190553/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-isis-bride-shamima-begums-14106294 , archivedate = 2019-03-09 , access-date = 2019-03-14 , url-status = live , quote = In recent weeks, Begum was said to have fled the al-Hawl camp with Jarrah to another squalid base after a 'price was put on her head'. {{cite news , url = https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/shamima-begum-inside-village-damned-14005318 , title = Shamima Begum: Inside 'village of the damned' camp where pregnant IS bride lived , work = The Mirror (UK) , author = Bradley Jolly , date = 2019-03-08 , page = , location = , isbn = , language = , trans-title= , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190309143137/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/shamima-begum-inside-village-damned-14005318 , archivedate = 2019-03-09 , access-date = 2019-03-14 , url-status = live , quote = Shamima was one of around 33,000 women and children who fled to the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria. {{cite news , url = https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/exclusive-mother-of-australian-is-bride-begs-government-please-bring-my-daughter-home , title = EXCLUSIVE: Mother of Australian 'IS bride' begs government 'please bring my daughter home' , work = Dateline , author = Naima Brown , date = 2019-02-28 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190312193013/https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/exclusive-mother-of-australian-is-bride-begs-government-please-bring-my-daughter-home , archivedate = 2019-03-12 , access-date = 2019-03-13 , url-status = live , quote = Now, she is believed to be waiting alongside fellow former IS brides British Shemima Begum and American Hoda Muthana in Al-Hol, a makeshift camp for displaced people in Syria and is hoping to come home to Australia. {{cite book , editor = Third World Institute , title = The World Guide: A View from the South 2005/06 , publisher =

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

, year = 2005 , isbn = 978-1-904456-11-7 , page = 533 , url = , location = , language = , trans-title= , quote = {{cite book , url = https://eng.alzaytouna.net/2011/09/13/the-palestinian-strategic-report-2007/ , title = The Palestinian Strategic Report 2007 , publisher = Al-Zaytouna Center , location =

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, editor = Mohsen Moh'd Saleh , isbn = 978-9953-500-676 , page = 357 , year = 2007 , access-date = 2019-03-13 , quote = {{cite news , url = http://www.arabnews.com/node/1459846/middle-east , title = At least 84 die fleeing Daesh in Deir Ezzor in east Syria: UN , work =

Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businesspeople, executives and diplomats. At least as ...

, date = 2019-03-01 , location =

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190302191944/http://www.arabnews.com/node/1459846/middle-east , archivedate = 2019-03-02 , access-date = 2019-03-13 , url-status = live , quote = At least 84 people, two thirds of them children, have died since December on their way to Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria after fleeing Daesh in the Deir Ezzor region, the United Nations said on Friday. {{cite news , url = https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/flash-update-1-displacement-hajin-deir-ez-zor-governorate-4-february , title = Flash Update 1: Displacement from Hajin, Deir-ez-Zor Governorate , work = UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , date = 2019-02-04 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190321142212/https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/flash-update-1-displacement-hajin-deir-ez-zor-governorate-4-february , archivedate = 21 March 2019 , access-date = 2019-03-13 , url-status = live , quote = The camp currently hosts more than 35,000 people and has largely surpassed its maximum capacity. Since 22 January 2019, some 10,000 people have arrived at the camp, straining response capacities. {{cite news , url = https://www.france24.com/en/20190208-france-24-exclusive-islamic-state-group-foreign-jihadi-brides-trapped-syria-kurdish-camp , title = FRANCE 24 exclusive: The battle-hardened foreign jihadi brides trapped in Syria , work =

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

, author = Romeo Langlois, James Andre , date = 2019-02-08 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190312202627/https://www.france24.com/en/20190208-france-24-exclusive-islamic-state-group-foreign-jihadi-brides-trapped-syria-kurdish-camp , archivedate = 2019-03-12 , access-date = 2019-03-13 , url-status = live , quote = Almost all of the women in the Kurdish-controlled al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria are foreign nationals who travelled to Syria at the height of the IS group’s so-called caliphate. They are held in a fenced-off area away from the other camp residents. {{cite news , url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/islamic-state-american-women.html , title = 2 American Wives of ISIS Militants Want to Return Home , work =

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, author = Rukmini Callimachi, Catherine Porter , date = 2019-02-19 , page = A1 , location = Al-Hawl Refugee Camp, Syria , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190220173050/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/islamic-state-american-women.html , archivedate = 2019-02-20 , url-status = live , quote = She surrendered last month to the coalition forces fighting ISIS, and now spends her days as a detainee in a refugee camp in northeastern Syria.

Background

Demographics

Administration and conditions in the camp

Repatriation efforts

See also

References

Further reading