Homeland Security Network Blog
Inside The Syrian Refugee Camp Where Supplies Are Low And ISIS Fears Run High
NBC News
Inside The Syrian Refugee Camp Where Supplies Are Low And ISIS Fears Run High
“ISIS can plant a seed in one of those areas based on the conditions and try and grow and foment its radical ideology,” Maj. Gen. Matt McFarlane told NBC News at the camp.
By Courtney Kube
AL-HOL, Syria — Inside the sprawling refugee camp in this arid corner of northeast Syria, the kids are everywhere.
They’re playing soccer next to a sea of tattered white tents. They’re running along a fence littered with trash and empty bottles. And they’re holding up their middle fingers and throwing rocks as an armored U.S. military vehicle approaches.
Of the roughly 54,000 residents in the al-Hol refugee camp, nearly half are children under the age of 12. Most fled here with their mothers and extended family members in late 2018 and early 2019 as the Islamic State terrorist group lost the last of its territory in Syria.
The plight of these children is a chief concern among U.S. military and State Department officials.
The refugee camp, opened in 1991 during the first Gulf War, has exploded into a humanitarian disaster and a serious international terrorism threat. Biden administration officials have been alarmed by the speed with which the camp has grown to include tens of thousands of relatives of suspected ISIS members and become a breeding ground for people loyal to ISIS.
“ISIS can plant a seed in one of those areas based on the conditions and try and grow and foment its radical ideology,” Maj. Gen. Matt McFarlane, the U.S. commander in Iraq and Syria, said in an interview at the camp last week.
McFarlane and other top military officials visited the camp to get an update on operations. U.S. officials denied NBC News’ request to interview camp residents, citing security concerns.
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