New York, United States. The United Nations said on Thursday it was taking management responsibility for camps in northeast Syria holding tens of thousands of women and children linked to Islamic State after the withdrawal of the Kurdish-led forces that had guarded them for years.
Iraq said it would prosecute detainees transferred from prisons in Syria through its criminal justice system and urged other countries to help take them in.
Camps and detainees in northeast Syria
More than 10,000 Islamic State members and tens of thousands of associated women and children have been held for years in about a dozen prisons and detention camps guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northeast.
The SDF rapidly retreated this week after clashes with Syrian government forces, raising concerns about security at prisons and humanitarian conditions at the camps.
U.N. assumes camp management amid security concerns
The United Nations said the SDF withdrew on Tuesday from al-Hol, which together with the Roj camp houses 28,000 civilians, mainly women and children who fled Islamic State strongholds as the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed. Those in the camps include Syrians, Iraqis and 8,500 nationals of other countries.
Syrian government forces established a security perimeter around the camp, and teams from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF reached the camp on Wednesday, officials said.
Senior U.N. aid official Edem Wosornu told the U.N. Security Council that UNHCR, which has taken over camp management responsibilities, was coordinating with the Syrian government to urgently resume the safe delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance.
U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said U.N. officials had not yet been able to enter because the situation in the camp remained tense and volatile, with reports of looting and burning. He said the Syrian government had expressed a willingness to provide security and support for UNHCR and aid groups.
Transfers to Iraq and reported prison escape
The U.S. military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 detainees from Syria to Iraq at the start of an operation that could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria.
A U.S. official told Reuters that about 200 low-level IS fighters escaped from Syria’s Shaddadi prison, although Syrian government forces had recaptured many of them.
What do you think should be the priority in ensuring security and humanitarian access at the camps?