The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

“Al-Hawl mini-state” in 2022 | 30 murder crimes by ISIS affiliates…hundreds arrested in large-scale security campaigns…noticeable decline in evacuation of Syrians under SDC initiative

SOHR calls on the international community to find an immediate and lasting solution for Al-Hawl crisis and urges putting a serious plan for rehabilitating the camp’s children and women.

The recurrent catastrophic events in Al-Hawl camp, located in the far southeast of Al-Hasakah, are clear evidence of the chaos that has been caused by the presence of Islamic States in Syria. The camp, hosting thousands of refugees and displaced people, has become a mini-state for ISIS affiliates and families: virtually a ticking bomb ignored by most of the world countries in an attempt to avoid the repatriation their citizens who had joined the notorious ISIS.

 

Al-Hawl is a home to at least 53,089 persons of different nationalities:

 

  • 7,274 Iraqi families consisting of 27,102 Iraqi nationals.

 

  • 5,021 Syrian families consisting of 18,157 Syrian nationals.

 

  • 2,306 families consisting of 7,830 European, Asian, African and other nationalities.

 

Under 18-year-old inhabitants of the camp are 33,347 children whose nationalities are the following:

 

  • 11,748 Syrians.

 

  • 16,185 Iraqis.

 

  • 5,414 of different foreign nationalities.

 

In this report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented and detailed the developments in the camp in 2022.

 

 

Security campaigns curb murder crimes committed by ISIS affiliates

 

Murders in Al-Hawl camp noticeably subsided in 2022 compared to the murder crimes documented in the camp in 2021. This is attributed to the large-scale security campaigns by military powers dominating the camp. These murders are committed by ISIS affiliates who mainly target Syrian displaced people and Iraqi refugees.

 

SOHR documented 29 murder crimes in Al-Hawl camp in 2022, that left 32 persons dead; they were as follows:

 

  • 12 Syrian citizens, including eight women.

 

  • Eight Iraqi refugees, including two women.

 

  • Eight unidentified women.

 

  • Two Egyptian girls.

 

  • An unidentified man.

 

  • A medic in a service post in the camp.

 

Here is the monthly distribution of the murder crimes and fatalities:

 

-January: Four crimes left four people dead:

 

  • Two Iraqis.

 

  • One Syrian.

 

  • A medic in a service post.

 

-February: No murder crimes by ISIS affiliates were documented in February. However, a child was killed in unjustified gunfire by the camp’s guards.

 

-March: No murder crimes by ISIS affiliates were documented in March. However, a man, a woman, a child and a member of ISIS cells were killed in clashes between the camp’s guards and an ISIS cell.

 

-April: Six crimes left five people dead:

 

  • Two Iraqis: a man and a woman.

 

  • One Syrian woman.

 

  • Three unidentified women.

 

-May: Six crimes left six people dead:

 

  • Two Iraqis: a man and a woman.

 

  • Three Syrians, including two women.

 

  • An unidentified woman.

 

-June: Seven crimes left eight people dead:

 

  • Four Syrian women.

 

  • Three unidentified women.

 

  • An unidentified man.

 

-July: Three crimes left three people dead:

 

  • Syrian woman and man.

 

  • An unidentified woman.

 

-August: Two crimes left three people dead:

 

  • Two Iraqi women.

 

  • One Syrian man.

 

-September: No murder crimes by ISIS affiliates were documented in September.

 

-October: No murder crimes by ISIS affiliates were documented in October.

 

-November: One crime left two Egyptian girls dead.

 

-December: No murder crimes by ISIS affiliates were documented in December.

 

Although February and March witnessed no murders by ISIS affiliates, several people were killed in those months. Here are further details:

 

  • February 7: SOHR sources reported an attempt to capture two guards of the camp by ISIS families in the section of “Al-Muhajerat” (the Female Immigrants) when members of ISIS families called the guards to extinguish a blaze they deliberately started in that section. The guards unjustifiably opened fire indiscriminately, which resulted in the death of a ten-year-old Turkistan child and the injury of six women, some seriously.

 

  • March 28: Security forces besieged the fifth section in Al-Hawl camp in Al-Hasakah countryside and arrested a terrorist who was trying to blow himself up. Meanwhile, clashes erupted between the security forces and armed men in the fifth and fourth sections in Al-Hawl camp, during which RPGs were used. The clashes left a man, a woman and a child dead and four other women and six children injured. In addition, an ISIS member was killed in the same clashes.

 

The latest Turkish escalation, which started on November 19, also affected Al-Hawl camp, as a Turkish fighter jet executed two airstrikes, on November 23, on a position of the protection units in Al-Hawl camp, killing eight combatants guarding the camp and creating chaos which encouraged families of ISIS members to try to escape.

 

While on November 24, seven institutions providing medical services suspended their work in Al-Hawl camp in Al-Hasakah countryside, after Turkish drones attacked a protection centre in Al-Hawl camp, south east of Al-Hasakah. irc, Hi, Releif, Koba, Al-Yamama and the peace and child saving centre informed the administration of Al-Hawl camp that they would suspend their work over the absence of a safe working environment due to the military operations and Turkish attacks, while over institutions suspended their work without informing Al-Hawl camp’s administration.

 

Also, on November 25, SOHR activists reported security tension inside Al-Hawl camp following an attempt by ISIS families to wreak havoc in the camp, amid flight of Turkish drones over the area. According to reliable SOHR sources, some ISIS families were trying to start a riot inside the camp, taking advantage of the current situation.

 

On the same day, SOHR activists monitored gunfire inside Al-Hawl camp in far south-eastern region of Al-Hasakah countryside, after several women of “Al-Muhajerat” (the migrant) section attempted to escape from the camp, before SDF-backed protection units arrested them. According to reliable SOHR sources, nearly 12 women tried to escape from the camp, and they were chased by members of the camp’s guards. Meanwhile, clashes erupted between members of the camp’s guards and boys claiming that they are of the “Caliphate Cubs,” which resulted in the injury of two boys.

 

Separately, Internal Security Forces (Asayish) were seen on high alert, on December 5, following the escape of Iraqi individuals, taking advantage of the foggy weather in the region. On the following day, security forces aborted an attempt by women to escape from the camp, arresting three women.

 

 

Noticeable decline in evacuation of Syrians, ongoing processes of evacuating Iraqi families and more European women and children repatriated

 

Throughout 2022, Syrian families continued to leave the camp under the Syrian Democratic Council’s (SDC) initiative that aimed at evacuating the camp of Syrians. However, the evacuation of Syrians from the camp have subsidised greatly in 2022 compared to 2021, as SOHR documented only 99 families of over 617 persons in batches. 22 families of nearly 217 people left Al-Hawl camp in December, and 77 other families of 400 people left the camp in August.

 

Meanwhile, Al-Hawl camp’s administration has continued the evacuation of Iraqi families in coordination with the Iraqi side, where 698 families of over 3,080 people were evacuated in batches in 2022; they are as follows:

 

  • January: 113 families.

 

  • April: 122 families.

 

  • June: 152 families.

 

  • August: 150 families.

 

  • December: 160 families.

 

Also in 2022, dozens of foreign children and women of ISIS families were handed over to official delegations from their countries as follows:

 

  • April 6: The Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of northern and eastern Syria (AANES) handed over two children of ISIS members to a delegation of the British government.

 

  • April 14: Several Russian children were handed over to a delegation of Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

  • July 1: Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of northern and eastern Syria (AANES) handed over 16 women and 35 children of the French nationality of ISIS families to a French delegation, under an official document signed between the French delegation and the “Autonomous Administration.”

 

  • July 21: The Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of northern and eastern Syria (AANES) handed over 11 Russian children of ISIS families to a Russian delegation, under an official document signed between the Russian delegation and the “Autonomous Administration.”

 

  • October 20: The Department of Foreign Relations handed over 38 Russian children of ISIS families to the Russian president’s Commission for Child Rights, after an official document was signed between both parties in the presence of the administration of Al-Hawl camp in the headquarters of Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration in Al-Qamishly city, north of Al-Hasakah.

 

  • October 26: The Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria handed two Canadian children and two women of ISIS families to a Canadian delegation, after signing an official document between both parties.

 

  • November 1: The Department of Foreign Relations handed over 49 European people: 12 women and 37 children, who were held in camps in north-east Syria to officials of the governments of their countries. According to SOHR sources, a woman and four children were handed over to a German delegation, while 11 women and 33 children were handed over to a Dutch delegation, after an official document was signed between the European delegations and the Autonomous Administration.

 

We, at SOHR, renews our calls to the international community to immediately find a lasting solution for the Al-Hawl problem. We also urge international human rights organisations to put an immediate and serious plan for rehabilitating women and children in the camp who were saturated with ISIS ideology, given the large number of children and the widespread presence of the group cells in the camp that continue to impart their poisonous ideas to the residents of the camp, particularly women and children.