AL-HOL, northeast Syria — Misery hangs over al-Hol, the dystopian refugee camp in northeastern Syria where tens of thousands of wives and children of Islamic State fighters are interned. On a recent morning ragged boys waded through the mud in plastic slippers waving plastic rifles at newcomers. From behind a chain fence, their mothers were watchful through the slits in their niqabs. 

“Take your pick,” said a Kurdish security guard who goes by the code name Eylul, in reference to potential interview subjects. “But no Europeans or Americans,” she warned. Western governments, loath to repatriate thousands of their citizens, including countless orphans stuck in al-Hol, have likely asked the Kurdish-run autonomous administration here to not allow journalists to convey their plight because of the pressure it creates.

The day’s menu — perversely, it really does feel like one is ordering at a restaurant — consists of a dizzying array of other nationalities. Russians, Moroccans, Turks or Trinidadians, who would we like to speak to? It can be arranged.

A young Russian woman with pale green eyes was presented to us at the gates of the notorious camp annex where the families of foreign fighters, accounting for roughly 15% of al-Hol’s population, are held. They briefly opened to let through a woman pushing an African child in a wheelchair. Reporters are not allowed to enter because “it’s too dangerous, they can attack you.”