The new government in Damascus has begun repatriating the first batch of Syrian families from a sprawling camp in the desert that houses tens of thousands of people with alleged ties to the Daesh terrorist group, which is run by the PKK/YPG, local sources said Monday.
As part of a deal between Damascus and the PKK/YPG terrorist group, some 43 families, including 176 people, many of whom are women and children, left the camp early on Monday under strict security and humanitarian aid measures.
The families, along with their belongings, were transferred to the Faiza Stadium in the northwestern city of al-Bab, where they underwent medical checkups before being delivered to their relatives.
Similar evacuations were carried out in the past but Monday’s convoy is the first organization from al-Hol to Aleppo in northwestern Syria, Stability Support Unit official Mohammad Kenco told Anadolu Agency (AA).
“We dispatched a convoy to move the families. Their belongings were transported on 30 trucks while four buses carried the people,” Kenco said.
Health care personnel and five ambulances were also present for medical cases, he added.
The support unit is meeting all the needs of men, women and children and supplying the necessities for the medical crew, according to Kenco.
“After being welcomed here, these people will be moved to new residential areas and integrated into society so they can continue their lives,” Kenco assured.
“We are hoping other families in the camp will be evacuated, as well, in the coming period,” he said.
The PKK/YPG and Damascus set up a "joint mechanism” last month for returning the families from al-Hol camp after a meeting among local authorities, representatives of the central government in Damascus, and a delegation from the U.S.-led international coalition fighting Daesh.
Human rights groups for years have cited poor living conditions and pervasive violence in the camp, which houses about 37,000 people, mostly wives and children of Daesh fighters, as well as supporters of the terrorist group. They also include Iraqis as well as nationals of Western countries who traveled to join Daesh.
The U.S. military has been pushing for years for countries that have citizens at al-Hol and the smaller, separate Roj Camp to repatriate them. Iraq has taken back increasing numbers of citizens in recent years, but many other countries have remained reluctant.
Prisons where about 9,000 suspected members of Daesh are held are also expected to come under central government control.
As for Syrians housed in the camp, a mechanism has been in place for several years to return those who want to go back to their communities in the YPG-occupied areas. Before now, however, there had not been an agreement with the government in Damascus to return them to areas under the central government’s control.
The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which led a bloody terror campaign in Türkiye, parts of Iraq and Syria for over four decades, killing at least 40,000 people. Last month, the terrorists announced they would lay down their arms and dissolve the organization as part of a “terror-free” initiative launched in Türkiye late last year. Ankara expects the YPG to follow suit and fulfill a March agreement it struck with Damascus to integrate into the new Syrian army after former regime head Bashar Assad was unseated in December.
