Iraq security committee visits Syrian Al-Hawl camp to expedite repatriating Iraqis

An Iraqi security committee has visited the Syrian Al-Hawl camp in coordination with the US-led international coalition to expedite repatriating Iraqi families from the camp into Al-Jada’a camp, south of Mosul, in Nineveh Governorate, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site reported, citing an Iraqi security source.

The senior Iraqi security official said a high-ranking security committee that included the intelligence service, the National Security, the National Security Adviser and the Joint Operations Commands were still on their visit to the camp, with the aim of working to solve the file of Iraqi families in this camp, especially that there are families without any official documents and some children without their parents, which require conducting a security check before transferring them to Iraq.

According to the source, the Iraqi committee is also collecting information about some Iraqis in the camp who have committed offences that require transferring them to Iraq, where they would be tried before court and imprisoned.

On Monday, the Iraqi National Security Adviser, Qassem Al-Araji announced that an international agreement had been concluded to dismantle the Al-Hawl camp, without mentioning any details regarding the signatory countries or the timetable for its implementation.

Al-Araji said more than 60,000 people, the majority of whom are Iraqis and Syrians, in addition to 50 other nationalities, currently live in the camp.

The Iraqi Minister’s announcement came after a series of meetings held by Iraqi officials with representatives of missions and ambassadors of Western and European countries to discuss security issues, most importantly the issue of Al-Hawl camp in eastern Syria.