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Most of the foreign families of ISIS terrorists have reportedly left al-Hawl camp since the Syrian government took control of the facility, which is located in the northeastern governorate of al-Hasakah.
This was first reported by AFP on February 12, following The Telegraph, then the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Al-Hawl was home to some 24,000 people, including some 15,000 Syrians, several thousand Iraqis and more than 6,000 other foreigners from around 40 nationalities.
Women and children, including many from Russia, the Caucasus and the Central Asian republics had lived in the high-security section of the camp separate from Syrians and Iraqis.
The forces of the Islamist-led Syrian Transitional Government (STG) took over the camp from the Kurdish self-administration last month as they expanded their control across formerly Kurdish-held areas in al-Hasakah and other parts of northeastern Syria in an office that ended with a merger agreement.
A source from a humanitarian organization told AFP that “since last Saturday [February 7]… there are no more than 20 families in the foreigners’ annex.” A second source confirmed to the news agency that the foreigners’ annex was basically empty, with some foreign women moved to the main camp.
After taking over the camp, the STG promised to keep the situation under control, and deployed a large security force there.
However, in recent days it became clear that the camp was out of control. United Nations agencies suspended all operations inside the camp on February 12 after their employees were threatened by some of the residents, according to the SOHR.
Syrian activities said that most of the Syrian and foreign families with ties to ISIS escaped either with help from STG security forces, or from the cells of the terrorist group. Many reportedly moved to safe houses in the northern governorates of Aleppo and Raqqa.
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The reports on the situation in al-Hawl came out as the U.S. military was completing the transfer of thousands of ISIS prisoners from northeastern Syria to Iraq.
The STG offensive against Kurdish forces saw dozens, and possibly hundreds, of ISIS prisoners escaping from facilities previously run by the self-administration. Many were even released by the forces of the government, which promised to keep them in custody.
The U.S. Central Command on February 13 said that the transfer of more than 5,700 ISIS prisoners to Iraq was completed. The transferred prisoners included 3,543 Syrians, 467 Iraqis, 234 Tunisians, 187 Moroccans, 181 Turks, 165 Turkmen, 130 Russians and 116 Egyptians, according to Iraqi authorities. Dozens of Europeans were reportedly also among the terrorists.
The latest events in northeastern Syria, especially the mass escape from al-Hawl, shows that the STG has failed to secure the areas it recently captured from Kurdish forces.
Those who managed to escape will likely help ISIS strengthen its influence in Syria. Foreigners in particular, even women, will pose a serious security threat.
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