The new Syrian transitional government is seeking a way to deal with the thousands of ISIS families who have been housed at camps in eastern Syria since the terror organization was defeated by the US-led Syrian Democratic Forces in several villages near the Euphrates River in 2019.
The families were sent to several camps and detention facilities, including Al-Hol and Roj, which probably held around 80,000 people in them at one point. By 2024, they contained around 10,000 male members of ISIS and tens of thousands of family members, such as women and children. Al-Hol had an estimated 18,000 Iraqi citizens, 16,000 Syrian citizens, and some 6,000 foreign ISIS supporters. There were another 3,000 estimated ISIS supporters in the Roj camp.
The camps have not been well funded, leading to ISIS supporters generally keeping to themselves and having a kind of internal police that enforces their strict, extremist norms. They also raise thousands of children in these conditions, essentially creating a new generation of potential extremists.
The US-led coalition had no clear policy on what to do with these people because most of the coalition’s members were not involved in the Syria campaign. Many Western governments did not want their radical citizens back from Syria, while simultaneously, the coalition didn’t want the SDF, which was backed and trained by the US, to release the dangerous extremists. There was no funding to deradicalize the women or men either.
This left the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES), which is the civilian authority in eastern Syria, to deal with these camps. They had special teams of SDF and security forces to secure the camps. However, it was impossible to deal with the families and change their behavior. The eastern Syrian region, known by the Kurds as Rojava, has no real financial resources; it is poor and isolated.
How it all changed
Things have begun to change since the new Syrian government took shape after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad. Now that Western countries are engaging with Damascus, there is a possibility for movement.
This is because the former role of the SDF as merely a tactical, temporary, and transactional group could not help it integrate with the new Syrian government’s security forces and enable Damascus to assume responsibility for the ISIS detainees and families.
“THE KURDISH authorities and the Syrian interim government have reached an agreement to empty the notorious al-Hol camp from Syrians and return them to their homes, a Kurdish official said on Monday,” according to a report from Kurdish media Rudaw on Monday.
“The official Facebook page of the Kurdish-led DAANES on Monday cited Sheikhmous Ahmed, who oversees all internally displaced persons and refugee camps in Rojava, as saying that a meeting was held between Rojava and Damascus officials earlier in the week. They agreed to ‘establish a joint mechanism for evacuating Syrian families from al-Hol camp and returning them to their original areas.’”
The article says the US-led coalition has helped move this along. This is not the first time the coalition, which is a military mission, has helped with larger issues. It also helped arrange a meeting between SDF leader Mazloum Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in early March. Washington also appears to have helped broker an agreement over the Tishrin Dam between the SDF and Damascus.
This comes as the US is seemingly withdrawing some forces from Syria and as the US-backed Syrian Free Army – a group of fighters based at Tanf in southern Syria – has been playing a larger role at Al-Seen airbase east of Damascus. The group says on social media that it is now part of the 70th Division of the new security forces of Damascus.
All of this is good news because it shows how Washington has played a positive role in Syria. It follows US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Sharaa in Riyadh and the appointment of US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack as envoy to Syria.
The Rudaw report added that “a delegation from the Syrian government visited al-Hol camp on Saturday, according to local media. The delegation consisted of 10 people and was the first visit to the camp by the interim government. They were also joined by representatives from the US-led global coalition against ISIS.”
Moreover, “The Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson told Rudaw on Saturday that as per the landmark agreement between Mazloum Abdi, chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in March, Damascus will assume the control of all areas in Rojava, including al-Hol camp.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Syrian government busted an ISIS cell near Damascus, showing that the terror group continues to pose a threat. Kurdistan24 reported on a “wave” of attacks in eastern Syria.
Additionally, the authorities in eastern Syria want to see a decentralized administration as they move toward integrating with the new government. In Damascus on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met with the chief of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband.