Syria Notorious al-Hol camp to be closed
The notorious al-Hol camp in north-eastern Syria for family members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia is to be closed. According to the government, it has begun moving the remaining residents to another camp in Aleppo province in the north of the country.
18.02.2026, 16:52
SDA
According to the responsible non-governmental organization SSU, around 700 people have been relocated since Tuesday. SSU had previously helped families to relocate and is supporting the government with the current relocations. According to SSU, the relocations are aimed at closing the camp. The aim is also to reintegrate those released into society.
According to government sources, the transfers began on Tuesday. They should be completed within a week.
Hundreds to thousands of people were able to flee
The Syrian transitional government launched an offensive in the north and north-east of the country at the beginning of the year in order to control the previously Kurdish-held areas of Syria. Prior to this, al-Hol, the largest camp for relatives of IS members, was under Kurdish control. The camp is not officially a prison, but is often described as such by residents. Voluntary departures were not possible.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, thousands of people were able to flee when the camp was taken over by forces of the transitional government. Some escaped on their own, while others were helped to flee by militias allied with the government, director Rami Abdel-Rahman told the German Press Agency. In recent weeks, relatives of residents and smugglers are also said to have helped people to escape. The Observatory also confirmed that the camp is to be closed.
According to government sources, hundreds of families had "left" the camp after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew from there "without coordination". This had created a security vacuum. According to the UN, there has been a significant drop in the number of residents in the camp in recent weeks.
Camp was considered high-risk
After the military victory over IS in 2019, relatives of IS fighters were isolated in the camps such as al-Hol for security reasons. People with German citizenship were also housed there.
Al-Hol has been considered high-risk for years. Due to its isolation, the camp was seen as a breeding ground for the ideology of the Islamic State. According to residents, they lived in a kind of lawless space. IS is said to have continued to exert a strong influence on the residents.
