Five women flee Syria’s Al-Hol camp as fire ravages dozens of tents

A massive fire broke out on Saturday at the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, which houses families of Islamic State (IS) members as well as thousands of displaced Iraqis and Syrians, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has reported. 

The blaze damaged over 30 tents and came just hours after reports that several women of Arab and foreign nationalities who had been detained at the camp had escaped.

According to media activist Khaled Al-Hasakawi, the fire caused damage to 31 tents in one section of the camp because of the delayed arrival of fire trucks to extinguish the flames. 

Al-Hasakawi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the delay was caused by a security cordon set up by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who run the camp in coordination with the Syrian Kurdish Asayish police force, following the escape of a group of women who hold both Western and MENA nationalities. 

A group of five women -  three Russians and two Moroccans -  reportedly escaped on Friday night with the help of Syrian smugglers.  

The women are still on the run and have not yet been captured by the SDF and Asayish. 

The Kurdish forces have temporarily increased their security checkpoints in Al-Hol and neighbouring villages. 

Al-Hasakawi said  that such escapes are commonplace, with some SDF members reportedly accepting large bribes to facilitate them despite the tight security around the camp. 

On 29 August, five IS fighters, two from Russia, two from Afghanistan and one from Libya escaped an SDF prison in Raqqa. Two of them were recaptured while SDF forces are still searching for the other three. 

Last week, the US Central Command Centre (CENTCOM) announced the capture of Khaled Ahmed Al-Dandal, an IS aide believed to be assisting imprisoned fighters, including recent escapees, in cooperation with the SDF.   

Several Asayish members were also arrested on corruption charges, suspected of aiding the escape of prisoners in exchange for money. 

Rights groups have repeatedly highlighted the treatment of people in Al-Hol, where conditions have been described as "hellish", with frequent outbreaks of violence and disease.

Dozens of children have died in the camp, and families of IS fighters are being held indefinitely without clear legal proceedings. 

The US State Department expressed its willingness to assist other countries in repatriating their citizens from the Al-Hol and Roj camps, which are administered by the Kurdish-led SDF and the associated Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES).

People from over 60 countries remain in these camps, most of whom are children under 12 years old. 

Two months ago, dozens of Syrian families were relocated from Al-Hol camp to their original homes in Deir ez-Zor, under tribal guarantees negotiated with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi. families had been permitted to exit the overly crowded camp.  

In May, two other groups that consisted of 158 families had also left the camp. 

Al-Hol currently houses 42,781 individuals, according to the latest data from the AANES-affliated Hawar news agency. 

Of these, 19,530 are Iraqis, 16,779 are Syrians, and 6,461 are foreign nationals, along with 11 stateless individuals. 

The camp’s population consists largely of women and children related to IS fighters who have either been killed, imprisoned, or disappeared.