The al-Hawl refugee camp (also al-Hol refugee camp[1]) is a refugee camp on the southern outskirts of the town of al-Hawl in northern Syria, close to the Syria-Iraq border, which holds individuals displaced from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[2] The camp is nominally controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (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.[3]
As of February 2021, the camp's population was more than 60,000[4] having grown from 10,000 at the beginning of 2019 after the SDF took the last of the Islamic State's territory in Syria in the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani.[5] The refugees are women and children from many countries, primarily Syria and Iraq.[6]
As of mid-2023, the camp population had fallen below 50,000 due to repatriations.[7]
- ^ Sommerville, Quentin (12 April 2019). "The women and children no-one wants". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Dateline2019-02-28was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Islamic State down but not out in Syria and Iraq: Pentagon report", AL MONITOR, 26 November 2021, https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/11/islamic-state-down-not-out-syria-and-iraq-pentagon-report
- ^ "Syria refugee camp 'womb' for new generation of IS extremists as killings surge". Sky News. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021 – via www.news.sky.com.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
loveluckwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Wintour, Patrick (12 March 2019). "Ministers urged to help UK families of foreign fighters in Syria". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 18 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ Spyer, Jonathan (5 April 2024). "ISIS has implemented their rule of terror: A report from the Al-Hawl camp in Syria". Archived from the original on 7 May 2024.