Iraq Returns Nearly 700 More Citizens Linked to ISIS from Syrian Camp to Mosul

Iraqi and Syrian officials announced on Monday that the Iraqi government has returned hundreds of its citizens linked to the group known as the Islamic State or ISIS from a camp in northeastern Syria to a camp in Mosul. According to the Associated Press, Ali Jahangir, spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Migration, stated that nearly 700 Iraqis, most of whom are women and children, returned late Sunday to a camp near the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. The spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Migration said, "These individuals are Iraqi citizens that we need to rehabilitate. Leaving them in the al-Hol camp means they are a threat to Iraq's security like a ticking time bomb." Sheikh Mous Ahmed, a Kurdish official overseeing refugee camps in northeastern Syria, stated that 187 families consisting of 697 Iraqis were the fifteenth group returned to their country on Sunday. Despite Baghdad's efforts to repatriate its citizens, Iraqis still represent the largest nationality among nearly 43,000 residents of the al-Hol camp, which shelters the wives, widows, children, and other family members of ISIS fighters. In 2014, ISIS declared its self-proclaimed caliphate by violently occupying large parts of Iraq and Syria, attracting tens of thousands of extremist supporters from around the world to its controlled areas in the Middle East. This extremist group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019 by a U.S.-led international coalition, with tens of thousands of individuals linked to it being transferred to the al-Hol camp in Syria, near the Iraqi border. According to CENTCOM, U.S.-led coalition forces conducted 94 operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in the first quarter of this year, resulting in the deaths of 18 ISIS members and the arrest of 63 individuals. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq stated earlier in April to Reuters that the terrorist group ISIS remains a threat in Iraq and that the military coalition's cooperation with Baghdad to completely defeat this group has not ended. Turkey has detained dozens on charges of 'links to ISIS.' Three teenagers in Germany were arrested on suspicion of 'Islamist-motivated terrorist operations.' The ISIS terrorist threat has led to UEFA Champions League matches being held under heavy security measures. CENTCOM: U.S.-led coalition forces conducted 94 operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria this year. Exclusive: U.S. response to the threat from the commander of the Iraqi militia group: Washington and Baghdad's cooperation to defeat ISIS will continue. U.S. ambassador in Baghdad: ISIS remains a threat in Iraq and is a 'common enemy.'