Exclusive - Half of 40,000 Iraqis Living in al-Hol Camp Long to Return Home

Women walk through al-Hol displacement camp in Hasakah province, Syria, April 1, 2019. (Reuters)
Women walk through al-Hol displacement camp in Hasakah province, Syria, April 1, 2019. (Reuters)
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Exclusive - Half of 40,000 Iraqis Living in al-Hol Camp Long to Return Home

Women walk through al-Hol displacement camp in Hasakah province, Syria, April 1, 2019. (Reuters)
Women walk through al-Hol displacement camp in Hasakah province, Syria, April 1, 2019. (Reuters)

The al-Hol camp in northeastern-most point in Syria is home to thousands of refugees, the majority of whom are Iraqi women and children. Some came there willingly, while a few sought refuge after fleeing their homeland when the ISIS extremist group swept through the region. Others were forced to flee to the camp when the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq fought back against the terror group.

Al-Hol also houses the families of ISIS members. These families make up the majority of the residents, who came to the camp after the group lost its territories in Iraq and Syria in spring 2019. Iraqis make up some 40,000 of al-Hol’s 68,000 residents. The camp is home to women and children who have been abandoned by ISIS fathers, who headed to the battlefronts where they were either killed or captured. Little is known of the ISIS prisoners after the Baghdad government abandoned them. They are currently held in jails run by the US-backed Kurdish Democratic Forces (SDF).

Iraqi family

Shayma hails from the Iraqi city of Mosul. Now in her 50s, she fled the city with her family in summer 2015. Her husband and son, both members of ISIS, were killed. She escaped with what remained of her family to the Syrian border city of al-Qaim. After heavy fighting broke out there, she entered Syria and sought refuge in the village of Abou Hamam in the northern Deir Ezzor countryside. She moved from town to town until she and her family of five reached al-Hol.

She now lives in a tent that does little to keep out the bitter winter cold and scorching summer heat. She lives there with her three daughters and two sons, aged 10 and 5. Asharq Al-Awsat toured the sparsely furnished tent. In one corner, Shayma set up a makeshift kitchen, in another, she set up a bathroom, which is separated from the rest of the tent with a dark grey curtain. The rest of the tent is styled in traditional Arab furnishings.

Her oldest daughter, Haifa, 30 told Asharq Al-Awsat that she is married to an ISIS member who is still in the field. “I don’t know anything about him. He may have been killed,” she said, adding that she has a child with him. She was born in Syria’s Baghouz, where ISIS made its last stand in the war-torn country. She is now a year and two months old.

Another sister, Wadad, married a Moroccan ISIS fighter when she was only 14 years old. He was killed in the battle of Hajin two years ago. Now 17, she gave birth to a child from him a year ago. With tears in her eyes, she expressed her conflicting feelings: “I don’t know what to tell my child when she grows up. Who was her father? How was he killed? Will I list the areas we sought refuge in to flee the fighting?”

Al-Hol was set up in the late 1990s to house 20,000 people. The number of its residents ballooned after the battle for Baghouz and now it holds 70,000 people in the arid Syrian desert, some 30 kilometers from the Iraq border.

Anger and questions

The camp has become a hotbed of anger and unanswered questions. Iraqi women wander a market, shouting loudly: “Where are our husbands? Why don’t they release them? Why won’t the Baghdad government take us back?”

As of 2018, more than 50,000 Iraqis had voluntarily returned to their homes, revealed Adnan al-Obeidi, head of the Iraqi refugee council in al-Hol. However, a year and a half ago, Iraqi authorities have been refusing to take in any more refugees. The camp management said more than 20,000 want to go back home, but only under the supervision of United Nations and international humanitarian agencies out of their fear of reprisals from the PMF, which controls several Iraqi regions.

Obeidi revealed that his office has handed the Baghdad government a list with the names of refugees. The list was submitted through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and International Committee of the Red Cross and “each time, we receive approval to return the refugees, but the process is always aborted for unknown reasons.”

Camp director Majida Amine told Asharq Al-Awsat that diplomatic coordination was ongoing between the autonomous authority in northeastern Syria and the Iraq government. Various pledges were made to allow the refugees to return to their homes. In early 2019, Iraq stopped receiving refugees willing to go back home. She said Iraq was to blame for the halt. “We have submitted lists of voluntary refugees months ago and we have yet to receive approval.”

She described the situation in al-Hol as “very difficult and disastrous” because tens of thousands of people were in dire need of help. Many have witnessed atrocities, war and indescribable suffering, both physical and psychological. The Iraqis need safety, shelter, food and health care that is lacking in the camp.



What to Know About the Flash Floods in Texas That Killed over 100 People

 Firefighters from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, transport a recovered body on the flooded Guadalupe River days after a flash flood swept through the area, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP)
Firefighters from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, transport a recovered body on the flooded Guadalupe River days after a flash flood swept through the area, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP)
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What to Know About the Flash Floods in Texas That Killed over 100 People

 Firefighters from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, transport a recovered body on the flooded Guadalupe River days after a flash flood swept through the area, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP)
Firefighters from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, transport a recovered body on the flooded Guadalupe River days after a flash flood swept through the area, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP)

Flash floods in Texas killed at least 100 people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left others still missing, including girls attending a summer camp. The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, has drawn a massive search effort as officials face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions.

Here's what to know about the deadly flooding, the colossal weather system that drove it in and around Kerr County, Texas, and ongoing efforts to identify victims.

Massive rain hit at just the wrong time, in a flood-prone place

The floods grew to their worst at the midpoint of a long holiday weekend when many people were asleep.

The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up. Friday's flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark early morning hours.

After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4 a.m. that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life. By at least 5:20 a.m., some in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes.

Death toll is expected to rise and the number of missing is uncertain

In Kerr County, home to youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 75 people, including 27 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said Monday morning. Fatalities in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to 94 as of Monday afternoon.

Ten girls and a counselor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.

For past campers, the tragedy turned happy memories into grief.

Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday had said that there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said during a Monday news conference he couldn't give an estimate of the number of people still missing, only saying “it is a lot.”

Officials face scrutiny over flash flood warnings

Survivors have described the floods as a “pitch black wall of death” and said they received no emergency warnings.

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said Saturday that “nobody saw this coming.” Officials have referred to it as a “100-year-flood,” meaning that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record.

And records behind those statistics don’t always account for human-caused climate change. Though it’s hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur, meteorologists say that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and allow severe storms to dump even more rain.

Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4 a.m. or told to evacuate.

Rice said Monday that he did not immediately know if there had been any communication between law enforcement and the summer camps between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Friday. But Rice said various factors, including spotty cell service in some of the more isolated areas of Kerr County and cell towers that might have gone out of service during the weather, could have hindered communication.

Rice said officials want to finish the search and rescue and then review possible issues with cell towers, radios and emergency alerts.

Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor.

Kerr county officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public reeled at the cost.

Monumental clearing and rebuilding effort

The flash floods have erased campgrounds and torn homes from their foundations.

"It’s going to be a long time before we’re ever able to clean it up, much less rebuild it," Kelly said Saturday after surveying the destruction from a helicopter.

Other massive flooding events have driven residents and business owners to give up, including in areas struck last year by Hurricane Helene.

President Donald Trump said he would likely visit the flood zone on Friday.

AP photographers have captured the scale of the destruction, and one of Texas' largest rescue and recovery efforts.