UN Takes Charge of al-Hol Camp for IS Families Amid Syria Turmoil
January 23, 2026
The United Nations is now managing the al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria. The camp holds thousands of people linked to the Islamic State (IS). Kurdish-led forces who ran the camp left after Syrian government forces advanced. This caused violence, unrest, and looting at the camp. Aid agencies have paused their work.
A ceasefire deal has put much of Syria's north-east under the Syrian government's control, ending years of Kurdish rule. UN official Edem Wosornu told the UN Security Council that the UN refugee agency UNHCR "had taken over camp management responsibilities" and was cooperating with Syrian authorities to restore aid access. Syrian forces now guard the camp's boundaries.
However, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric warned that conditions inside the camp are still "tense and volatile." Humanitarian aid is not yet running.
Separately, the US has started moving up to 7,000 suspected IS fighters from prisons in northeast Syria to Iraq. US Central Command said 150 detainees were already at a secure location in Iraq. Iraq will prosecute all transferred detainees under its laws.
Iraq's deputy UN ambassador Mohammed Sahib Mejid Marzooq said this move helps protect regional and international security but should not be a long-term burden on Iraq alone. Syria’s UN ambassador Ibrahim Olabi welcomed the US transfers and offered support.
Rights groups warn the detainees may face torture or death without fair trials. The charity Reprieve fears some transferred detainees could be British, including juveniles, and urges urgent UK government action. Around 55 to 60 British nationals, mostly children, remain detained in the region.
Katherine Cornett of Reprieve told the BBC, "The prisoners transferred face being tortured, sentenced to death and executed, without being granted any meaningful opportunity to contest the allegations against them."
For years, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the US, and the UN have called for foreign IS suspects and families to be repatriated. Many countries have refused to take them amid ongoing political instability and poor conditions in camps and prisons.
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Tags:
United nations
Al-Hol Camp
Is Families
Syria
Kurdish Forces
Us Detainee Transfers
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