A Syrian government official told Sky News al Hol camp in northeastern Syria is now largely emptied, acknowledging that escapes continued after the state took control of the site.
Al Hol has for years housed tens of thousands of women and children linked to suspected ISIS fighters, as well as Syrians and Iraqis displaced by the war.
The camp, previously run by Kurdish-led authorities, was taken over by the Syrian government last month as Damascus expanded its control in the area.
“Families escaped while we were present because the camp is large and the smuggling routes are very varied,” said Fadi al Qassem, the Syrian foreign ministry’s representative for al Hol camp administration.
He said the camp was already largely emptied of residents by the time Syrian forces arrived, with guards gone and gates open, and that authorities then struggled to prevent further departures.
Mr al Qassem said the government inherited unreliable population records and long-standing smuggling networks, making it difficult to establish who was present when the Syrian army took over the site.
He said officials found evidence of forged documentation, with families using multiple registration cards that belonged to people who had already left illegally.
He added that authorities were trying to trace those who left outside official channels, using records from international partners, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Syria says camp no longer viable
The agency said on Sunday it had observed a significant decrease in the number of residents at al Hol in recent weeks.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR representative based in Syria, said local authorities had informed the agency of plans to relocate remaining families and had asked for its support to assist people in the new camps, which the agency said it was ready to provide.
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The government plans to fully empty the camp and is transferring remaining families to sites in Akhtarin and Jarabulus in northern Aleppo province, near the Turkish border, where container units and concrete shelters are already in place, Mr al Qassem said.
He added that most of those being moved are women and children and that rehabilitation and social integration programmes are planned.
He said officials concluded al Hol was no longer viable and would not be restored, citing extensive damage and the high cost of rehabilitation.
The first convoy left earlier this week in coordination with Syria’s emergency ministry and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, with 10 buses and 35 trucks deployed, and further transfers planned.
‘It’s the language of extremists’
Former Kurdish staff members who worked at al Hol said the rapid emptying of the camp had raised serious security concerns.
Jihan Hanan, who ran al Hol camp for four years until its takeover by Damascus last month, said the lack of any clear tracking of those who have left the camp was particularly worrying.
“When I saw videos showing large parts of al Hol empty, I was alarmed,” she said. Her last official figures, from 19 January, put the camp’s population at around 23,000 people.
She added that a video circulating online showed a former resident threatening her by name from inside what appears to be her burned and vandalised former office, vowing to track her down and warning others who had worked at the camp.
“This has created real fear for me and my children,” Ms Hanan said. “This is the language they used against us all the time. It’s the language of extremists.”
Many former residents blamed camp staff for their detention, she added, and more than 1,000 civilian and humanitarian workers who had run al Hol over the years now feared reprisals.
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