And the National Security Adviser’s media office revealed in a statement that the meeting, which was chaired by Al-Araji, “was held with the participation of the head of the National Security Agency, Hamid Al -Shatri, Joint Operations Deputy Commander, Lt. Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Director of the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Directorate, Prime Minister’s Human Rights Adviser, Zaidan Khalaf , and a representative of the intelligence service of the National Council, academic personalities and officials of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Iraq, Jeanine Plasschaert, and the ambassadors of the European Union and Arab and foreign countries working in Iraq.
Al-Araji said, according to the statement, “The Iraqi government, after declaring victory over the terrorist group ISIS and liberating the cities that were usurped, has launched a campaign to rebuild these areas, alongside the reconstruction and rehabilitation of people, to get rid of the effects of terrorism.”
He added: “The Iraqi government has repeatedly confirmed that the Al-Hol camp poses a threat and a danger to Iraq and the world and must be dismantled”, stressing “the importance of the cohesion of the international community and working to urge countries to withdraw their nationals from the camp, and he also suggested that an international conference be held at the level of foreign ministers, to find a solution. For the question of the closure of this camp.
Al-Araji noted that “the Iraqi government transferred 1,369 families from this camp to Iraq and subjected them to rehabilitation operations, with a view to their integration into society, noting that 800 families returned to their areas of residence after the rehabilitation operations”.
He stressed that “the presence of children in a camp where hatred and crime are spreading will generate a new generation of terrorists, and these children are victims, and terrorists must be held accountable according to the laws and not go unpunished. “.
And he indicated that “the question of the Syrian camp of Al-Hawl is not local, and Iraq has transferred it to the question of the international community”, reaffirming “Iraq’s request for the return countries to their camp nationals”.
The international view of the Al-Hol camp file
The representative of the UN Secretary General in Iraq, Jeanine Plasschaert, presented the vision of the United Nations regarding the Al-Hol camp, stressing that “what the terrorist ISIS left behind is a complex legacy, and we must all face it.” ”
She noted the importance of “removing the children from the camp before they grow up and become terrorists, and Iraq’s efforts in this case were not easy, and the best way to close this case is the concerted efforts of the international community to control and resolve this situation.”
Experts in the fight against terrorist groups believe that the countries of the world are called upon to respond to this Iraqi call, because the threat of the ticking bomb of the Al-Hol camp is not limited to Iraq and the countries in the region, but that its fragments will affect the security and safety of the world as a whole, especially since there are a large number of children in the camp. , who will often turn to new ISIS projects in the future, if they are not removed and rehabilitated intellectually and behaviorally, and turn the page on this dangerous dossier.
The importance of the Iraqi initiative
Ghazi Faisal Hussein, director of the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies, said in a statement to Sky News Arabia:
Iraqi efforts are increasing to close the case of the al-Hol camp in eastern Syria, which is home to thousands of Daesh, which represents a time bomb, especially since it includes Daesh from different countries around the world. a danger and a direct threat to Iraq, Syria and various countries in the region and the world, especially in light of the presence of thousands of families and children, who could turn into new ISIS generations at the ‘coming. The most important issue is the need to start receiving various countries for their nationals in al-Hawl, and Iraq is pushing in this direction, and returning payments to its nationals there, according to programs to rehabilitate them, especially the children among them, to integrate them into society and correct their distorted and violent ways of thinking and perception, and inculcate in them the principles of tolerance, partnership, respect for others and non-violence. The efforts of Iraq and the United Nations are very important in resolving this thorny and sensitive issue, which requires greater international support, since the programs for the return of Iraqis from al-Hol require large budgets and colossal funding, to create the conditions and opportunities for employment and education for the children of these families, after their security cases are resolved and they are placed on the right track as citizens with rights and homework.
In turn, Iraqi political researcher and writer, Jamal Ariz, said in a statement to “Sky News Arabia”:
Iraqi calls for the international community to close the Al-Hol camp and for every country to take in its terrorist nationals are quite right and appropriate, given that Iraq is the country most confronted with the threat from ISIS, and the survival of this huge gathering of ISIS in Al-Hol poses a direct threat to the security of Iraq and the safety of its citizens. Unfortunately, there is no sign of an international response on the horizon, and in this context we have seen how the Autonomous Administration of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls the al-Hol camp, recently announced that she would conduct local trials in courts in northeastern Syria for al-Hawl militants, after the majority of countries refused to receive her subjects. This means, of course, that these people, after their trial and the imposition of sanctions against them, will often be transferred from the Al-Hol camp to prisons and detention centers, which means that the danger remains the even and even increases, because we must not forget what happened before of a major Islamic State rebellion in Ghweran prison in Al-Hasakah at the beginning of 2022. At that time, hundreds of fighters of the Islamic State managed to escape.
Al-Hol Camp
- The camp houses between 55 and 60,000 people, most of whom are women and children, and almost half of them are Iraqis and a quarter of them are Syrians, while around 10,000 Foreigners are housed in an annex, and many in the camp are still staunch supporters of Islamic State.
- According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 90% of the residents of Al-Hol camp are women and children.
- The history of the establishment of Al-Hol camp dates back to the 90s of the last century, when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees established a camp on the outskirts of the city of Al-Hol in eastern Syria, near the border with Iraq, and in coordination with Damascus, to receive thousands of displaced Iraqis and refugees after the second Gulf War.
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After the emergence of the Islamic State and its control since 2014 over large areas of Iraq and Syria, including the city of Al-Hol itself, which was liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces with the help of the International Coalition against the Islamic State in 2015, the movement The movement became active again, in particular from the governorate of Nineveh, with its center in the city of Mosul, in the north of Iraq, to be crowded. With tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees and displaced Syrians, it is now the largest place of detention for ISIS and their families in the world.
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