“Al-Hawl mini-state” in May 2021 | ISIS affiliates escalate their operations through six murders…file of Iraqi refugees still suspended…and more Syrians leave the camp
The successive incidents at al-Hawl camp in the far south-east region of Al-Hasakah are now a unrefuted evidence of the chaos recently unleashed by the Islamic State in Syria. Al-Hawl refugee camp has become more like a “mini-state” hosting ISIS-affiliated members and families. A true crisis that most countries of the world still ignore in order to avoid repatriating their unwanted citizens who joined the notorious organization. Chaos and lack of security are prevalent within the camp, turning it into a “ticking bomb” that cannot be ignored.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) tracked and monitored the key developments in the camp in May 2021.
In May, security chaos alarmingly escalated, amid fears of the return of killings in al-Hawl camp by ISIS affiliates, as SOHR activists documented six murders committed in al-Hawl camp in May 2021. The breakdown of fatalities were as follows:
Five Iraqi refugees, including three women, who were killed in the first section of al-Hawl camp, and a Syrian displaced civilian who was killed in the camp’s fifth section.
Accordingly, the number of murders documented by SOHR in al-Hawl camp since the beginning of 2021 has risen to 47, 13 murders in January, ten in February, 17 in March, one in April, and six in May. These murders have left 48 people dead, and the breakdown of fatalities in the past five months was as follows:
- 36 Iraqi refugees, including two children and eight women.
- 12 Syrian people, including a child and three woman, the head of the “Syrian Council” in the camp, and a member of the Internal Security Forces (Asayish).
A gunman of a cell responsible for assassinations and murders in the camp, who was killed when he blew himself up with a grenade just after he had been caught by an Asayish patrol which was pursuing him.
On May 30, SOHR activists documented the injury of an Iraqi refugee in al-Hawl camp in the south-eastern countryside of al-Hasakah, after members of ISIS cells opened fire on him. The refugee was taken later to a hospital in al-Hasakah after being hit with two gunshots.
While on May 11, the administration of al-Hawl camp in al-Hasakah countryside evacuated 83 families of nearly 271 persons, mostly from Deir Ezzor province.
Accordingly, 411 Syrian families have left al-Hawl camp since the beginning of 2021 as follows:
- In January: 98 families
- In February: 105 families
- In March: 125 families
- In May: 83 families.
This development comes as a part of the initiative by the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) to evacuate Syrian displaced people from al-Hawl camp.
Also, on May 6, SOHR sources reported that a delegation comprising the Iraqi Minster of Foreign Affairs and members of the Iraqi government’s bureau of displaced people affairs arrived at al-Hawl camp a week earlier with the aim to count the Iraqi refugees in al-Hawl camp in al-Hasakah countryside, in preparations for evacuating them according to the agreement reached earlier with the Autonomous Administration.
According to SOHR activists, an internal disagreement within the Iraqi government is hindering the evacuation of the Iraqi refugee from al-Hawl camp. This disagreement followed the pressure exerted by Yazidi activists, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces and other governmental figures regarding the people supposed to be transported from Syria to the camp of al-Jada’a 1 in the south of Mosul in Iraq, especially since most of the Iraqi refugees in al-Hawl camp hailed from areas hosted the largest number of ISIS popular supporters in Mosul and surrounding areas.
The Syrian Observatory renews its appeal to the international community for a solution to “Al Hawl mini-state” crisis, which is considered a clear and present danger to everyone. We, at the Syrian Observatory, once more renew our call to the UN Security Council, all organizations concerned and countries that claim to respect and champion human rights globally to act immediately to stop the crimes and violations committed against the Syrian people by the Islamic State and many other active actors on the ground, and to establish appropriate courts for prosecuting the perpetrators. We call on all those countries that have citizens in Al-Hawl camp to find a solution for those individuals and face up to their responsibility.