Following SDK retreat, 24,000 Women and Children Face Food and Water Crisis at Al Hol and Al Roj Camps : Tom McDermott

 10-year-old Sundus al-Hassan at Al Hol

While SCF has issued several warnings of the crisis in the camps, so far UNICEF seems to have expressed general concern about the impact of potential fighting  in the region.  Our concern should go beyond the immediate crisis of so many mothers and children left without access to food, water and medical supplies, but also to the many child rights issues of families held in prison camps without trial or legal process since March 2019 and with no clear pathway to return to society in their countries of origin. Especially concerning is the fact that many of the 12,000 or so children have been born in the camps and have never known life outside of the barbed wire.

Tom

Northeast Syria - After SDK retreat, 24,000 Women and Children Face Food and Water Crisis at Al Hol and Al Roj Camps

Publications: 

PBS NewsHour

Save the Children International

Date: January 22, 2026

Summary:

As of January 22, 2026, the newly formed Syrian army has taken control of much of northeast Syria held until Sunday by the Kurdish SDF.  The turn-over came under terms of a ceasefire agreement brokered by the US. with the aim of re-asserting the sovereignty of the Syrian government.  The US had supported the Kurdish SDF forces since the fall of ISIS in 2019 as a means of controlling the various prisons and camps where former IS fighters were held, along with two major camps, Al Hol and Al Roj, which held the women and children dependents of the fighters.   

The sudden turn-over of control and the fighting which followed the ceasefire led to SDF guards coming under fire and withdrawing before the Syrian army could take charge.  Some former IS fighters  escaped.  More important, however, was that the fighting and the vacuum of control resulted in the cut off of all food, water and medical supplies intended for the two camps holding thousands of dependents.  

Facing a predictable crisis and fearing mass escapes, U.S. forces have initiated "Operation End Era," transferring the first 150 of an estimated 7,000 adult male ISIS detainees from northeast Syria to secure facilities in Iraq. 

Little attention so far has gone to the approximately 24,000 women and children—many who have never lived outside the camps—who remain in Al-Hol and Al-Roj detention camps, now under Syrian government military control after Damascus declared both facilities 'restricted security areas. The Syrian Ministry of Interior has implemented a comprehensive state census and vetting process for all remaining camp residents, effectively blocking international NGO access that operated under former SDF permits.

The transition has triggered an immediate humanitarian crisis. Since the departure of SDF guards and administrators, camp residents report total collapse of basic services including running water, functioning medical clinics, and food supplies such as bread and vegetables. International organizations including Save the Children have been forced to suspend all non-life-saving activities due to active fighting and extreme danger on supply roads from Hasakah. 

Syrian military forces are actively recapturing families who escaped during the 48-hour transition period, with at least 11 foreign women and their children already returned to custody. The Syrian government has paralyzed humanitarian operations by requiring all aid to flow through state-run supply chains that have not yet replaced the defunct Kurdish distribution systems.

The legal fate of the camp dependents remains highly uncertain. While the U.S. focuses its efforts on relocating high-value male prisoners beyond reach of the Damascus administration, no coordinated international plan exists for the children left behind. UN agencies are urgently calling for establishment of humanitarian corridors to restore basic supplies and are pressing foreign governments to accelerate repatriation of their nationals before the window for independent oversight closes entirely. The only exit pathways currently available to camp residents are through the Syrian government's own "reconciliation" or "deportation" frameworks, with no timeline established for international humanitarian access to resume.

Quotes:

"Residents are reporting a desperate lack of basic necessities, as the state-run supply chain for bread and water has not yet replaced the defunct Kurdish administration."

Save the Children context: UN agencies and international monitors characterize the situation as a "deepening humanitarian blackout" with thousands of children "at critical risk of starvation and violence" as the Syrian government consolidates control over what were previously internationally-monitored detention facilities.