Harvest 2020: Threat of ISIS families in Syria still exists

Sarah Rashad

Just as the Syrian refugee crisis has not ended, as most countries in the world refuse to receive them, the crisis of foreign extremists whose countries refuse to take them back also has not ended.

Throughout the year 2020, few countries announced their acceptance of their citizens who were in Syria motivated to participate in the war.

Russia, for example, was the most recent of these countries. The Commissioner for Child Rights in the Federal Republic of Russia, Anna Kuznetsova, announced on Saturday, December 26 that it had recovered 19 children from the Al-Hol and Rouge camps, explaining that they would soon be sent to their relatives in Dagestan, Bashkortostan, Saratov and Kemerovo, according to the TASS.

TASS stated that a plane belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry carrying the children landed at Chkalovsky airport near Moscow, explaining that they are between 3 and 15 years old, and that they will be subject to quarantine before transporting them to their relatives.

In addition to Russia, the German Foreign Ministry announced on December 20 that Finland, in cooperation with the German authorities, has returned six children and two women from camps in northeastern Syria, and Berlin has also returned 12 children and three women.

Uzbekistan also announced on December 8 that 98 of its citizens will be returned from the camps for the displaced in northeastern Syria.

According to Reuters, the Uzbek government has returned 25 women, accompanied by 73 children, to their lands from Syria, who were in camps with families from ISIS.

In November, the Kurdish Autonomous Administration announced the handover of 30 Russian children whose parents are affiliated with ISIS to Moscow.

In February 2020, the Autonomous Administration handed over 35 Russian children of ISIS, while France handed over ten children of killed ISIS elements in June.

By comparing these numbers with the foreigners in ISIS camps in Syria, the countries’ response remains weak to the demands of the Autonomous Administration, which wants all countries to recover their members to get rid of the specter of ISIS.

Al-Hol camp in Hasakah Governorate, northern Syria, is considered the most dangerous despite its inclusion of ISIS women, as the women tried more than once to carry out riots against the Kurdish Autonomous Administration, in addition to attempts by one of them to flee either for fear of returning to their countries of origin or a desire to join the elements of the organization.

The Autonomous Administration sees Al-Hol camp as a “nightmare” that remains on the possibility of the return of ISIS, as it contains women and children who carry the organization’s ideology and approach.

In spite of the many appeals made by the Autonomous Administration of various countries to take back their extremist elements, a general state of rejection by the states is motivated by fear of the returnees and their experiences and ideas.