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ConflictsSyria

UN set to take over Syrian camp for people linked to 'IS'

Mohamad Chreyteh | Gasia Ohanes | Mohamad Daboul in Syria
January 23, 2026

The United Nations will take over management of a camp in northeastern Syria holding some 24,000 women and children linked to the "Islamic State" group. Previously, the camp was run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

https://p.dw.com/p/57M2v

The al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria is home to thousands of women and children stranded there since the collapse of the extremist "Islamic State" group's self-declared caliphate in 2019.

Many of them, including the Moroccan widow of a deceased IS fighter, remain in legal limbo because their home countries refuse to repatriate them.

Despite the territorial defeat of the "Islamic State," its ideology persists, creating major security risks should the women and children be released.

Aid groups warn that children, in particular, face dire conditions in this de facto open-air prison and are highly vulnerable to radicalization.