“The new convoy [of returnees] consists of 193 families which total 715 people,” ministry spokesperson Ali Abbas told Rudaw.
It is the first batch of people to be repatriated to Iraq in 2025 with Baghdad frequently repatriating its nationals from the camp.
Al-Hol camp in Rojava’s Hasaka province is infamous for its squalid conditions and has notoriously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the 40,000 ISIS-linked people who have been held at the camp since the defeat of the group in 2019.
In late December, an Iraqi lawmaker told Rudaw that the country was preparing to repatriate over 700 ISIS-linked nationals from the camp.
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria have repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their nationals from the camp, but their calls have largely gone unanswered as most countries are unwilling to bring back their citizens due to security concerns.
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked opposition in Iraq, with tribes unwilling to accept and welcome people associated with the group that committed heinous human rights abuses and war crimes from 2014 to 2017, when they controlled vast swathes of the country.
Most repatriated individuals are resettled in al-Jada camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, to be prepared for reintegration into their communities and then returned to their hometowns.
