Nearly 750 Iraqis have been repatriated to their country from the al-Hol camp in Syria, Baghdad announced. More than 40,000 refugees more or less close to the Islamic State organization live under the control of the Syrian Kurdish armed forces in this camp where the majority of women and children, families of fighters from the jihadist group, are locked up.
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With our correspondent in Erbil, Théo Renaudon
These 750 Iraqis arrived at the Jeddah rehabilitation camp, in the very north of Iraq, not far from Mosul. This is where the federal authorities place these refugees. First, they are subject to psychological tests to determine whether or not they are still affiliated with the Islamic State organization. The Iraqi authorities are wary, they want to know who still represents a danger.
These Iraqis, or rather these Iraqi women and their children, are coming back from hell. The hell of al-Hol where more than 40,000 people are held for years in the Syrian desert in white tents to escape the heat, cold, snow and mud. Al-Hol is today described as a mini caliphate. The Kurds who surround this prison camp cannot enter certain areas where the Islamic State group still rules.
After al-Hol and its law, after Jeddah and its tests, these 750 Iraqis are destined to return to their regions of origin, now under the control of Shiite militias who raise fears of settling scores.
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