Ninevah sheikh and ex-commander warn of ‘IS family camp dangers’
Nearly two years after its liberation from the Islamic State, Ninevah province is still struggling to deal with IS-linked displaced people.
ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — As Iraqi internally displaced persons get sent from camps in Ninevah province to their home areas despite concerns for their safety, the province’s residents are worried about a looming influx of Iraqis currently living in Syria who have ties to members of the Islamic State (IS).
“We need time to recover,” Gen. Najm al-Jabouri, the former Ninevah operations commander, told Al-Monitor in an interview in late August, saying it is “a very bad idea” to move the Iraqis from Syria's al-Hol camp into Ninevah.
Human Rights Watch reported Sept. 4 that local authorities in Ninevah have forcibly expelled more than 2,000 Iraqis linked to IS from camps for displaced people in the province since Aug. 23.
Reports surfaced in late July that there were plans to isolate and fence in families coming from al-Hol at the Jadah 5 camp near the town of Qayyarah in southern Ninevah.
