Syria: explosive situation in al-Hol camp
Audio 03:56
The al-Hol camp in the northeast of the country is under the control of Kurdish forces.
© Murielle Paradon
Text by: Murielle Paradon Follow |
Boris Vichith
8 mins
The al-Hol camp brings together the families of imprisoned Islamic State fighters, but also those displaced by war.
More than 60,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, live there in very difficult sanitary and security conditions.
Crimes are on the increase.
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From our special envoys to al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria
,
Authorizations, body searches ... To enter the al-Hol camp, you have to show a white paw.
And we can't go very far, just to the market a hundred yards away.
"
Afterwards, it's too dangerous
", affirm the Kurdish guards in charge of security.
Murders take place every day in the tents that stretch out as far as the eye can see.
Inside this camp, which houses families of jihadists and war displaced people, you can move around freely, but you cannot go out.
Around us, in the midst of the dust and the heat, a crowd of women in black forms.
All wear a niqab and gloves, revealing only their eyes.
They challenge us.
“
The living conditions are very difficult.
We are mistreated, they keep us here with this heat, without water.
There is a lot of garbage around the tents.
We walk for miles to get water,
"says one of them while another, sobs in her voice, begs:"
By God, go and see the situation in the camp!
Poverty, sick children… We sell food provided by NGOs for money.
We don't have enough to eat.
Everything is expensive, we are fed up!
".
“
We are all Islamic State in this camp!
"
The majority of these women come from Iraq. They say they joined Syria to flee the Shiite militias in their country. They would have found themselves, despite themselves, in the middle of the fighting between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Islamic State, before being taken to this camp. But after a few minutes, some admit their adherence to the ideology of ISIS. “
Under the laws of the Islamic State, at least we lived in safety. They didn't hurt us. They were following the rules of the Koran and the Sunnah and the laws of the Prophet Mohammad!
», Launches a woman. An argument breaks out. "
Stop saying that or we'll never get out of here!"
""
When you were in Baghouz, you said you were with the Islamic State, now you say the opposite?
retorts the first woman.
We are all Islamic State in this camp!
"
►
To read also: Trial of November 13: meeting with the wives of the jihadist brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain
Insecurity is total in al-Hol
Some of these women were married to IS fighters who were killed during the final assault on Baghouz in 2019. Other men died in the al-Hol camp.
There is total insecurity.
A young woman leads us away from the crowd: “
There are murders, assassinations several times a day.
I spend my nights without sleeping, because I am afraid of assassinations and also of patrols, she
confides.
My husband was killed in the camp.
He worked as a guard at the market and he was killed here.
The men who accept a job offered by the Kurdish forces, in charge of the camp, are often considered traitors and risk death, we are told.
Escapes for a few thousand dollars
For the 40,000 Iraqis who populate the majority of the al-Hol camp, returns to the country have started to be organized, but in a trickle manner. So some dream of getting away from it all. For a few thousand dollars, you can pay for your ticket to freedom. “
If I had enough to pay, I would pay thousands of dollars, but I don't have it,”
says an old man.
And you can ask everyone here, the smugglers get a lot of money from the Iraqis.
But freedom is not guaranteed. “
Sometimes they manage to get people out of the camp, but they are arrested right after and put back in the camp and beaten.
"
The situation in al-Hol camp is untenable and of particular concern to young people.
“
We have two sons aged 12 and 14.
We are very worried about them because if they grow up in this camp, they will not be able to return to Iraq,
”laments a woman.
There is no future for them.
“
My 14 year old son can't even read!
What did we do to deserve this?
There is no future in the al-Hol camp.
Young people appear idle, at the mercy of the most radical elements.
►
Also to listen: Raqqa, former capital of the Islamic State, struggles to rebuild
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