Scores of Syrians return home after years at camp housing people linked to the Islamic State group

AL-HOL CAMP, Syria (AP) — Scores of Syrian women and children linked to the Islamic State group left a sprawling camp in northeast Syria Wednesday and headed home to the eastern province of Deir el-Zour following mediation by tribal leaders.

The latest batch of people to leave al-Hol camp, which houses wives, widows, children and other family members of IS militants, came as repatriations by foreign countries have increased in recent months in an attempt to reduce the population of the facility that at its peak five years ago housed 73,000 people.

Beginning in the early hours of the day, 254 people from 69 families piled their belongings into trucks before climbing on board and moving south under the protection of members of the local U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led police force to their hometowns in Deir el-Zour.

They were the 54th group of Syrians to leave the camp over the past few years and the first in 2024, according to the camp’s director, Jihan Hanan.