A camp in northeastern Syria that had housed families of suspected Islamic State members is now largely empty after hundreds of women and children were repatriated to their countries or transferred to other facilities in recent weeks, officials said Friday.
The UN refugee agency assisted in returning 191 Iraqi citizens from Syria’s al-Hol camp to Iraq on Thursday, according to Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the agency’s representative in Syria. About 600 Syrians were moved from al-Hol to Akhtarin camp in northwestern Aleppo province, with transfers ongoing, a Syrian government official said.
“With this repatriation, and with today’s return of several vulnerable Syrian families supported by UNHCR and partners, Al‑Hol camp will now be practically empty,” Vargas Llosa said.
The rapid depopulation of al-Hol reflects Syrian government efforts to relocate detainees following its capture of the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The facility, which held nearly 73,000 people seven years ago, has long housed families of IS members under conditions aid organizations have described as dire.
Camp emptied as repatriation accelerates
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility. Most are women—wives or widows of IS members—and their children, though the facility also housed foreign nationals from dozens of countries who had joined or lived under the Islamic State group during its territorial control of parts of Syria and Iraq.
Years of decline and humanitarian crisis
When Islamic State was defeated in 2019, the camp housed nearly 73,000 people. The number had fallen to approximately 24,000 by January 2026. The latest repatriations and transfers follow weeks of instability after Syrian government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which had administered the facility for a decade following IS’s military defeat.
Save the Children reported that around 70 percent of camp residents departed in recent weeks, whether through official transfers and repatriations or by leaving during the military conflict that resulted in the camp’s change of hands. Conditions at al-Hol had become increasingly difficult for residents.
“We have long advocated for safe and dignified repatriation from Al-Hol, where conditions are dire, with a lack of food, water, and widespread violence,” the organization said in a statement Thursday, urging the international community to support ongoing repatriation efforts.
Government rationale and broader detention movements
A Syrian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained that the decision to empty al-Hol stemmed from practical security and logistical concerns. The camp’s remote desert location posed challenges in delivering services and securing the territory, the official said, particularly in proximity to areas where Syrian government authority remains limited.
The repatriation from al-Hol does not represent the sole movement of IS-affiliated populations in Syrian custody. Syrian authorities turned back a group of 34 Australian women and children on Monday after they departed Roj camp, another detention facility in northeastern Syria that houses families connected to IS. Australian authorities subsequently stated they would not accept repatriation of the families.
The U.S. military has separately transported thousands of IS militants held in Syrian detention facilities to Iraq, where they face prosecution in Iraqi courts. That process has continued alongside the Syrian government’s efforts to manage the broader population of IS-affiliated detainees and family members held within Syria’s borders.