Germany and Finland repatriate children from Syria's al-Hol camp
There have been several repatriations of people from the camp for Islamic State families this year.
Two European countries repatriated women and children from northeast Syria’s infamous al-Hol camp on Saturday.
Germany and Finland brought 18 children and five women home from the camp for Islamic State (IS) families, the German Foreign Office said in a statement.
Al-Hol hosts more than 64,000 people who lived in IS territory. Most of the camp’s population consists of Iraqi and Syrian citizens, but there were also 9,462 foreigners there as of October, according to the United Nations.
The camp is controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are the predominant military force in the Kurdish-led statelet in northeast Syria. Some women in the camp maintain allegiance to IS, but others have less established connections to the group. The inhabitants are largely families of IS fighters, though some residents say they were simply living in IS territory when the group was defeated by the SDF.
