Iraq repatriation of families from Syria camp will help defeat Daesh, says top US commander

The US military’s top commander within the Middle East has expressed his optimism of and support for Iraq’s repatriation of its citizens from the infamous Al-Hawl camp in north-east Syria, seeing it as a primary step to countering the threat from the terror group Daesh.

The well-known camp, which is one of the largest and most populated of the displacement camps controlled by the Kurdish armed groups in north-east Syria, holds roughly 65,000 inhabitants of whom many are women and children who are relatives of defeated Daesh fighters.

The Iraqi government is set to repatriate 100 Iraqi families from the camp this week as part of ongoing international efforts to ease the humanitarian situation there and limit the threat of it becoming a breeding ground for extremism.

Speaking to the news outlets ABC News and Associated Press last Friday during his visit to US bases in north-east Syria, the commander of the US Central Command, General Frank McKenzie, predicted that Baghdad’s move would be “the first step in many such repatriations.”

“I think that’s going be the key to bringing down the population at the Al-Hawl camp and indeed other camps across the region. Nations need to bring back their citizens, reintegrate them, de-radicalize them if necessary and make them productive elements of society.”

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McKenzie echoed, however, long-held concerns about the seeds of extremism being planted in the children of the camps and their potential of becoming the next generation of Daesh fighters. “What concerns me is the ability of ISIS [Daesh] to reach out to these young people in a way that…[will] make us pay a steep price down the road.”

Such concerns come at a time when Daesh cells have increasingly launched scattered attacks on security forces throughout Syria and Iraq in recent months, leading to fears that it could potentially fully revive itself three years after it was territorially defeated by international coalition forces.

The deputy commanding general of that coalition – British Brigadier General Richard Bell – was also quoted as saying that the terror group is “attempting to reconstitute themselves” and “haven’t gone away” despite their defeat. Bell referenced that as a reason why coalition forces are still needed in the region, echoing the Iraqi government’s desire for them to remain there as a security guarantee.

“Until the last remnants are completely defeated and the will is also broken to stop and try to come back then I think there will be a requirement to assist our partner forces,” Bell said.

Despite the repatriation, the prospects that face largely Sunni families who return to Iraq tend to be bleak, with Iran-backed Shia militias seeing them as Daesh sympathisers and the government marginalising them. In January this year, for example, hundreds of innocent Sunni detainees were set to be executed after being accused of responsibility for suicide bombings in Baghdad.

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