TUNIS, April 20. /TASS/. Not more than 35,000 refugees remain in the Al-Hawl camp for family members of former Islamic State (a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) militants in the Syrian al-Hassakah governorate, Syria TV said.
According to the television channel, the camp’s population has nearly halved since 2019 thanks to the efforts by Syrian and Iraqi authorities.
Efforts to ensure the return of these people to their homes continues, but some of them will have to stay in the camp "due to the unwillingness of some countries to receive their citizens affiliated with this group," the camp’s administration said.
The TV channel recalled that this week, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by the international coalition, began an operation to ensure security at the camp, having deployed dozens of troops and military vehicles to the area amid "growing security threats inside the camp and frequent escape attempts."
The Al-Hawl camp was set up for former militants’ families in northern Syria in 2019 after the defeat of the Islamic State stronghold in al-Baghuz. In 2019, it accommodated some 73,000 people. According to various estimates, its population had shrunk to around 50,000 by 2025. In January, the Kurdish autonomy in northeastern Syria said that following the change of power in the country it was ready to help ensure the return of all Syrians residing in the Al-Hawl camp to their homes.