Al Hol - US repatriates two dozen westerners including 14 children from Islamic State camp : AFP / The Guardian / NPR

Article shared by Tom McDermott
The US has at last freed and repatriated 23 people, including 14 children, from al Hol and other detention camps in northeastern Syria. The group includes 11 Americans, 6 Canadians (all children), 4 Dutch, and one Finnish citizen. All were family members of ISIS fighters or supporters detained since 2018.

Ten of the American members group were part of an individual family - Brandy Salman and 9 of her children. Two others were children of a man who joined ISIS as a teenager.

At least 45,000 people from 70 countries remain in detention in the camps, including about 30,000 children under age 18 and as many as 22,000 under age 12.

Click here for The Guardian - US repatriates two dozen
Click here for NPR - After years in a Syrian ISIS camp

Excerpt -
"“Detention based solely on family ties is a form of collective punishment, which is a war crime,” Human Rights Watch said in its report last year.

The group said that children had been dying at al-Hawl, the largest camp, of preventable diseases, hypothermia and tent fires as well as by drowning in sewage pits."