Iraq official warns of jihadist threat from Syria camp

The Al-Hol camp for displaced people in Syria is a jihadist threat and should be dismantled, a senior Iraqi security official said on Saturday.

Al-Hol, in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, is Syria’s largest camp for displaced people. It houses about 56,000 including displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, some of whom maintain links with the Islamic State group (IS).

Araji called on foreign governments to repatriate their citizens from Al-Hol, and urged rapid dismantlement of the camp.

Most of Al-Hol’s residents are people who fled or surrendered in Syria during the dying days of IS’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” in March 2019.