Syria confirms mass escape of IS relatives from al-Hol camp

Syria confirms mass escape of Islamic State relatives from Al-Hol camp — Islamic State (ISIS) families, some holding ISIS flags, at the al-Hol Camp in northern Syria, January/February 2026. Photo: iKurd.net/video/X

DAMASCUS,— Syria confirmed Wednesday that relatives of Islamic State IS/ISIS fighters escaped in large numbers from Al-Hol camp last month after Kurdish forces withdrew from the facility.

Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said at a press conference that Syrian forces found widespread escapes when they entered the camp. He said the site had been opened in what he described as a disorganized way.

Al-Hol, located in northeastern Syria, is the largest camp holding relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists. It had been run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces SDF.

Last month, Syrian troops pushed Kurdish forces out of large areas in the north. The move raised concerns about the future of Islamic State prisoners and their families held in detention centers and camps.

Al-Baba said the Kurdish SDF withdrew from Al-Hol on Jan. 20 under pressure. Syrian security forces took control of the camp hours later. He said the Kurdish forces left without coordinating or informing Syrian authorities or the international coalition fighting jihadist groups.

But some observers said that the Syrian government Islamist forces and officials were allegedly taking between $1,000 and $2,000 to release families from the camp.

He described the situation after the withdrawal as chaotic. Authorities discovered more than 138 breaches in the camp’s 17-kilometer perimeter wall, he said. The openings allowed many detainees to escape.

Following the Kurdish withdrawal, thousands of women and children fled the camp to unknown destinations.

Al-Baba said Al-Hol had housed about 23,500 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis. Around 6,500 foreigners from 44 countries were held in a high-security section.

Last week, Syrian authorities transferred the remaining families from Al-Hol to another location in northern Syria and shut down the camp.

Before the Kurdish forces left, the United States military moved more than 5,700 detained Islamic State suspects from Syrian prisons to Iraq. The United States had earlier announced plans to transfer about 7,000 detainees.

Islamic State seized large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The group carried out mass killings and forced Kurdish and Yazidi women and girls into sexual slavery.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in 2017 with support from a U.S.-led coalition. The Syrian Kurdish forces later defeated the group in Syria in 2019.

After that, the SDF detained thousands of suspected Islamic State fighters and held tens of thousands of their relatives in camps across northeastern Syria, also known as Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

(With files from AFP)