Iraq repatriates more families from Daesh-linked Al-Hol camp
Kurdish-run camps and prisons in northeastern Syria still hold about 56,000 people from dozens of countries, many of them the family members of Daesh suspects, more than five years after the terrorists' territorial defeat in Syria.
While many Western countries refuse to take back their nationals, Baghdad has taken the lead by accelerating repatriations and urging others to follow suit.
The latest group of 505 people is the sixth since the beginning of the year to be repatriated.
They left the camp on Wednesday, said Jihan Hanan, Al-Hol's director.
The Iraqi security official confirmed that about '153 families arrived yesterday' in Iraq.
Daesh captured nearly a third of Iraq before local forces, backed by a US-led coalition, defeated them in 2017.
In Syria, US-backed Kurdish forces dislodged IS from the last of its Syrian-held territory in 2019.
Al-Hol is located in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Syria.
Iraq has intensified its efforts to bring back its nationals amid concerns about the security situation in Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad in December, Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji said last week.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leaders
10 minutes ago
- Leaders
3 States Send National Guard Troops to Washington amid Protests over Trump's DC Crackdown
Three US states said they would send hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington to back Donald Trump administration's effort to overhaul policing in the nation's capital through a federal crackdown, reported the Associated Press (AP). Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Washington on Saturday to protest Trump's executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia National Guard members. US States Sending Troops Three Republican-led states announced they would send hundreds of national guard members to the capital at the request of the Trump administration. West Virginia Governor, Patrick Morrisey, announced the deployment of 300 to 400 troops, saying that the state 'is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation's capital.' Meanwhile, South Carolina Governor, Henry McMaster, said he would deploy 200 national guard members to help law enforcement in Washington, and Ohio Governor, Mike DeWine, pledged 150 military police from the Guard to 'carry out presence patrols and serve as added security.' Trump's DC Takeover Last week, Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the Democratic District of Columbia. The US President said that his administration would take over Washington's police department for at least a month and activate 800 members of the National Guard to reduce crimes and remove homeless encampments. 'We're going to take our capital back,' Trump said. The District of Columbia enjoys a congressionally established federal district status, which gives Trump a unique opportunity to advance his crackdown-on-crime agenda. In his emergency declaration, Trump cited the 'city government's failure to maintain public order and safety' which impact 'the Federal Government's ability to operate efficiently to address the Nation's broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence.' Trump's show of force came as the DC police department's data showed that violent crime was at a 30-year-low when the US President returned to office in January and 26% lower compared to this time last year, according to The Guardian. More Manpower The Trump administration's activations of National Guard members indicate that it needs additional manpower, although the US President dismissed the idea that Washington needs to enlarge its police force. However, the Trump administration has not revealed why it needs additional troops and the deployed National Guard members have so far played a limited role in the federal intervention. Within this context, a White House official said that more National Guard troops are being sent to Washington to 'protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials to carry out their duties when required, and provide a visible presence to deter crime,' according to Reuters. Protests against Trump's Crackdown Hundreds of Americans demonstrated against Trump's federal crackdown and attempted takeover of Washington's police department. On Saturday, protesters marched to the White House, carrying banners saying 'No fascist takeover of DC,' while chanting 'Shame' and 'No military occupation.' The protesters were driven by concerns that Trump could use crime as a pretext to increase his influence and impose his will on Washington, hoping that they could push the administration to reverse its actions. The demonstrations took place one day after the Trump administration backed off an effort to appoint Drug Enforcement Administration head, Terry Cole, as an 'emergency police commissioner' who would assume full operational control over DC police, after DC Attorney General, Brian Schwalb, filed a lawsuit in federal court. Short link : Post Views: 7
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Iraq starts work on Daesh mass grave thought to contain thousands
BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities have begun excavating the site of a mass grave believed to contain thousands of victims of the Daesh group near Mosul city, the project's director said on Sunday. The first phase, which was launched on August 10, includes surface-level excavation at the Khasfa site, director Ahmed Assadi said. An AFP correspondent visiting the site in northern Iraq on Sunday said the team unearthed human skulls buried in the sand. Khasfa is located near Mosul, where Daesh had established the capital of their self-declared 'caliphate' before being defeated in Iraq in late 2017. Assadi said that there were no precise figures for the numbers of victims buried there – one of dozens of mass graves Daesh left behind in Iraq – but a UN report from 2018 said Khasfa was likely the country's largest. Official estimates put the number of bodies buried at the site at least 4,000, with the possibility of thousands more. The project director said the victims buried there include 'soldiers executed by Daesh,' members of the Yazidi minority and residents of Mosul. Exhuming the bodies from Khasfa is particularly difficult, Assadi said, as underground sulfur water makes the earth very porous. The water may have also eroded the human remains, complicating DNA identification of victims, he added. Assadi said further studies will be required before his team can dig deeper and exhume bodies at the site – a sinkhole about 150-meter (nearly 500-foot) deep and 110-meter wide. Iraqi authorities said it was the site of 'one of the worst massacres' committed by Daesh militants, executing 280 in a single day in 2016, many of them interior ministry employees. In a lightning advance that began in 2014, Daesh had seized large swathes Iraq and neighboring Syria, enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law and committing widespread abuses. The United Nations estimates the militants left behind more than 200 mass graves which might contain as many as 12,000 bodies. In addition to Daesh-era mass graves, Iraqi authorities continue to unearth such sites dating to the rule of Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2003.
Asharq Al-Awsat
5 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Mistrust and Fear: The Complex Story behind Strained Syria-Lebanon Relations
A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by opposition factions in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus. In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a US-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire. Still, even after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule, relations between Beirut and Damascus remain tense — as they have been for decades past, with Syria long failing to treat its smaller neighbor as a sovereign nation. Recent skirmishes along the border have killed and wounded several people, both fighters and civilians, including a four-year-old Lebanese girl, The Associated Press said. Beirut and Damascus have somewhat coordinated on border security, but attempts to reset political relations have been slow. Despite visits to Syria by two heads of Lebanon's government, no Syrian official has visited Lebanon. Here is what's behind the complicated relations. A coldness that goes way back Many Syrians have resented Hezbollah for wading into Syria's civil war in defense of Assad's government. Assad's fall sent them home, but many Lebanese now fear cross-border attacks by Syria's militants. There are new restrictions on Lebanese entering Syria, and Lebanon has maintained tough restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon. The Lebanese also fear that Damascus could try to bring Lebanon under a new Syrian tutelage. Syrians have long seen Lebanon as a staging ground for anti-Syria activities, including hosting opposition figures before Hafez Assad — Bashar Assad's father — ascended to power in a bloodless 1970 coup. In 1976, Assad senior sent his troops to Lebanon, allegedly to bring peace as Lebanon was hurtling into a civil war that lasted until 1990. Once that ended, Syrian forces remained in Lebanon for another 15 years. A signature of the Assad family rule, Syria's dreaded security agents disappeared and tortured dissidents to keep the country under their control. They did the same in Lebanon. 'Syrians feel that Lebanon is the main gateway for conspiracies against them,' says Lebanese political analyst Ali Hamadeh. Turbulent times It took until 2008 for the two countries to agree to open diplomatic missions, marking Syria's first official recognition of Lebanon as an independent state since it gained independence from France in 1943. The move came after the 2005 truck-bombing assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that many blamed on Damascus. Two months later, Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon under international pressure, ending 29 years of near-complete domination of its neighbor. When Syria's own civil war erupted in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled across the border, making crisis-hit Lebanon the host of the highest per capita population of refugees in the world. Once in Lebanon, the refugees complained about discrimination, including curfews for Syrian citizens in some areas. Hezbollah, meanwhile, rushed thousands of its fighters into Syria in 2013 to shore up Assad, worried that its supply lines from Iran could dry up. And as much as the Lebanese are divided over their country's internal politics, Syria's war divided them further into those supporting Assad's government and those opposing it. Distrust and deadlock A key obstacle to warming relations has been the fate of about 2,000 Syrians in Lebanese prisons, including some 800 held over attacks and shootings, many without trial. Damascus is asking Beirut to hand them over to continue their prison terms in Syria, but Lebanese judicial officials say Beirut won't release any attackers and that each must be studied and resolved separately. In July, family members of the detainees rallied along a border crossing, demanding their relatives be freed. The protest came amid reports that Syrian troops could deploy foreign fighters in Lebanon, which Damascus officials denied. Another obstacle is Lebanon's demand that Syrian refugees go back home now that Assad is gone. About 716,000 Syrian refugees are registered with the UN refugee agency, while hundreds of thousands more are unregistered in Lebanon, which has a population of about 5 million. Syria is also demanding the return of billions of dollars worth of deposits of Syrians trapped in Lebanese banks since Lebanon's historic financial meltdown in 2019. The worst post-Assad border skirmishes came in mid-March, when Syrian authorities said Hezbollah members crossed the border and kidnapped and killed three Syrian soldiers. The Lebanese government and army said the clash was between smugglers and that Hezbollah wasn't involved. Days later, Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers flew to Saudi Arabia and signed an agreement on border demarcation and boosting their coordination. In July, rumors spread in Lebanon, claiming the northern city of Tripoli would be given to Syria in return for Syria giving up the Golan Heights to Israel. And though officials dismissed the rumors, they illustrate the level of distrust between the neighbors. Beirut was also angered by Syria's appointment this year of a Lebanese army officer — Abdullah Shehadeh, who defected in 2014 from Lebanon to join Syrian insurgents — as the head of security in Syria's central province of Homs that borders northeastern Lebanon. In Syria, few were aware of Shehadeh's real name — he was simply known by his nom de guerre, Abu Youssef the Lebanese. Syrian security officials confirmed the appointment. What's ahead Analysts say an important step would be for the two neighbors to work jointly to boost security against cross-border smuggling. A US-backed plan that was recently adopted by the Lebanese government calls for moving toward full demarcation of the border. Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, says the best way forward would be for Syria and Lebanon to address each problem between them individually — not as a package deal. That way, tensions would be reduced gradually, he said and downplayed recent comments by prominent Syrian anti-Assad figures who claimed Lebanon is part of Syria and should return to it. 'These are individual voices that do not represent the Syrian state,' Zaideh said.
