Al-Hasakah, northeastern Syria – The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with Syria’s transitional government to facilitate the removal of Syrian families from the al-Hol detention camp.
Sheikhmus Ahmad, head of the Office for Refugee and Displaced Affairs in the Autonomous Administration, said in a statement posted on Facebook that a joint mechanism has been developed to enable the voluntary return of Syrian nationals to their areas of origin.
Ahmad noted that the decision follows a meeting held on May 25, inside the camp, which included officials from the Autonomous Administration, the Syrian transitional government, and representatives of the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Related: Trump Urges Syrian President to Expel ‘Palestinian Terrorists,’ Take Over ISIS Prisons
“We are ready to assist anyone who wishes to return voluntarily,” said Ahmad, emphasizing that the administration is prioritizing human dignity over political considerations.
According to a government source who spoke to +963, a delegation from the Syrian transitional government, accompanied by U.S.-led Coalition forces, visited al-Hol camp. The group included officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior, as well as intelligence and counterterrorism units.
The visit and subsequent agreement are said to stem from a broader deal reached in March between the Syrian transitional administration and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the de facto military arm of the Autonomous Administration.
Al-Hol, located in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, has drawn international scrutiny for years. The camp holds over 50,000 people, most of them women and children, many of whom are family members of suspected ISIS fighters. Conditions in the camp have been widely criticized by human rights organizations, and it has been described as a “ticking time bomb” by U.N. officials due to frequent violence and extremist indoctrination.
