عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Iraq Starts Repatriating ISIS Families from Al-Hol

A general view of al-Hol camp in Hasakah, northeastern Syria. (Reuters)
A general view of al-Hol camp in Hasakah, northeastern Syria. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Iraq Starts Repatriating ISIS Families from Al-Hol

A general view of al-Hol camp in Hasakah, northeastern Syria. (Reuters)
A general view of al-Hol camp in Hasakah, northeastern Syria. (Reuters)

Iraqi MP Sherwan Aldubardany said that a number of ISIS families from Al-Hol camp arrived in Mosul, northern Iraq, amid mounting concerns that some ISIS family members could be a “time bomb" that jeopardizes the country’s security.

In his statements on Wednesday, Aldubardany said that secured buses were sent by the Ministry of Migration and Displaced to transfer the families to the south of Mosul through Sinjar.

For his part, Iraqi MP Ahmed al-Jabouri described transferring the ISIS family members from Syria to Iraq as a “disaster”.

Jabouri told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that this move is a time bomb, reiterating previous warnings of the dangers of this decision.

Available data shows that up to 100 families will arrive in Iraq, out of 30,000 Iraqi persons present in the camp.

The camp hosts various nationalities, including Iraqis from several provinces such as Nineveh, Anbar, Babel, Kirkuk, Salaheddine, and Diyala.

In the same context, strategic expert, Dr. Moataz Mohieddin told Asharq Al-Awsat that the camp has tens of thousands of displaced. A great number of them are Iraqi women and children, he stressed.

There are up to 40,000 Iraqis and around 10,000 families from different origins in the camp who live amid an poor security and lack of international supervision.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
TT
TT

Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)

Sudan's army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with paramilitaries, has announced a cabinet reshuffle that replaces four ministers including those for foreign affairs and the media.

The late Sunday announcement comes with the northeast African country gripped by the world's worst displacement crisis, threatened by famine and desperate for aid, according to the UN.

In a post on its official Facebook page, Sudan's ruling sovereignty council said Burhan had approved replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs, the media, religious affairs and trade.

The civil war that began in April 2023 pits Burhan's military against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries under the command of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Since then, the army-aligned Sudanese government has been operating from the eastern city of Port Sudan, which has largely remained shielded from the violence.

But the Sudanese state "is completely absent from the scene" in all sectors, economist Haitham Fathy told AFP earlier this year.

The council did not disclose reasons behind the reshuffle but it coincides with rising violence in al-Gezira, south of the capital Khartoum, and North Darfur in Sudan's far west bordering Chad.

On Friday the spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he condemned attacks by the RSF on Gezira, after the United States made a similar call over the violence against civilians.

Among the key government changes, Ambassador Ali Youssef al-Sharif, a retired diplomat who previously served as Sudan's ambassador to China and South Africa, was appointed foreign minister.

He replaces Hussein Awad Ali who had held the role for seven months.

Journalist and TV presenter Khalid Ali Aleisir, based in London, was named minister of culture and media.

The reshuffle also saw Omar Banfir assigned to the trade ministry and Omar Bakhit appointed to the ministry of religious affairs.

Over the past two weeks, the RSF increased attacks on civilians in Gezira following the army's announcement that an RSF commander had defected.

According to an AFP tally based on medical and activist sources, at least 200 people were killed in Gezira last month alone. The UN reports that the violence has forced around 120,000 people from their homes.

In total, Sudan hosts more than 11 million displaced people, while another 3.1 million are now sheltering beyond its borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.