This piece originally appeared on USIP.org.
Full Article: https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/11/what-will-become-iraqis-al-hol
By Sarhang Hamasaeed
In October, Kurdish authorities announced 24,000 Syrians would be released. But the camp’s Iraqi residents’ future is as uncertain as ever.
The al-Hol camp in northeast Syria—which holds tens of thousands who were living among ISIS before its territorial defeat—has presented the region and international community with a host of thorny challenges. What to do with the camp’s residents has particularly bedeviled the Kurdish authorities who run the camp as well as the governments of countries where residents came from. On October 5, Kurdish authorities said they would release the Syrians in the camp, where conditions have become increasingly unsustainable. But, nearly half of the camps’ 65,000 residents are Iraqis, and their prospect for return remains deeply uncertain. USIP’s Sarhang Hamasaeed discusses the situation facing Iraqis in al-Hol and the challenges ahead if they indeed return.