Syria to close camps housing thousands linked to Daesh

Syria plans to permanently close two displacement camps in the northeast that hold civilians, including foreigners, linked to Daesh militants, ‌a government official said.

The Al Hol and Roj camps ‍hold more than 28,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, according to the UN About 6,000 foreigners are ‍housed in Al Hol and a further 2,000 in ‍Roj.

A charity that has worked in both camps, the Swiss-based Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, told Reuters it understands Damascus aims to empty and shut the sites within a year.

Syrian forces recently took ‌control of Al Hol after the chaotic withdrawal of ‍Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF still holds Roj where residents had in recent days reported ​being confined to their tents as aid groups evacuated due to rising security worries.

More than 50,000 people who ​fled Daesh’s ‍last strongholds as the group lost territory over ‌the last decade were once held at the two camps. Numbers have fallen due to repatriations, primarily by ​Iraq.

Among the foreigners ‌held is Shamima Begum, a British-born woman who joined Daesh.

The civilian displacement camps are for families and others with alleged Daesh links, distinct from detention ‌facilities that hold suspected fighters.

Earlier, Lebanon’s cabinet approved an agreement to transfer Syrian prisoners serving their sentences in Lebanon back to their home country.

Lebanon and Syria have a complicated history with grievances on both sides. Many Lebanese resent the decades-long occupation of their country by Syrian forces that ended in 2005. Many Syrians resent the role played by the Lebanese group Hizbollah when it entered Syria’s civil war in defence of Assad’s government.

A key obstacle to warming relations has been the fate of about 2,000 Syrians in Lebanese prisons, including some 800 held over attacks and shootings, many without trial. Damascus had asked Beirut to hand them over to continue their prison terms in Syria, but Lebanese judicial officials said Beirut would not release any attackers and that each must be studied and resolved separately.

The deal approved appeared to resolve that tension. Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said other issues remain to be resolved between the two countries, including the fate of Lebanese believed to have been disappeared into Syrian prisons during Assad’s rule and the demarcation of the border between the two countries.

Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that about 300 prisoners would be transferred as a result of the agreement.

Agencies