A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected Islamic State group jihadists, the new authorities’ first visit, both sides said Saturday.
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Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to Isis, more than five years after Isis’s territorial defeat in Syria.
Kurdish administration official Sheikhmous Ahmed said “a tripartite meeting was held on Saturday in the Al-Hol camp” that included a government delegation, another from the US-led international coalition fighting IS, and Kurdish administration members.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest camp, housing some 37,000 people from dozens of countries, including 14,500 Iraqis, in dire conditions.
Discussions involved “establishing a mechanism for removing Syrian families from Al-Hol camp”, Ahmed said.
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The visit comes more than two months after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, agreed to integrate the Kurds’ civil and military institutions into the national government.
The deal also involved guaranteeing the return of all Syrians to their hometowns and villages.