Across the barren northeast Syrian desert, a single road leads to one of the most volatile humanitarian flashpoints left from the ISIS war: Al Hol detention camp — a sprawling, barbed-wire-ringed compound holding tens of thousands of family members of ISIS fighters. Nearby prisons hold more than 8,000 ISIS militants.
For years, Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States took responsibility for these detainees as they rolled back the Islamic State’s caliphate. But now, as the Pentagon reduces its footprint in Syria, U.S. officials are signaling that Syria’s new government will eventually have to take control of the camps and prisons.
A Political and Security Dilemma
The transfer is part of a wider American push to fold the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — the Kurdish-led militia that dominated the anti-ISIS fight — into a unified national military after 13 years of civil war.
But mistrust runs deep. Many Kurds fear the new leadership, made up of Islamist former rebels with past links to al-Qaeda, may free ISIS members or fail to contain them.
Publicly, the government says the opposite. It joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in November and insists it is committed to defeating the remnants of the group, which has intensified its attacks over the past year, including bombings targeting a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus and Syrian government forces.
Inside the Camps: A New Generation at Risk
Administrators warn that Al Hol and its sister camp, Roj, have become incubators for a new generation of ISIS-indoctrinated children.
Nearly 60% of the residents are under 18.
Many have spent their entire childhood inside a closed, radicalized environment.
When visited earlier this year, women pulled their children close and muttered “kafir” — infidel — at foreign observers. Others crowded forward pleading to be released.
“We want to go home. We are so tired,”
said Um al-Bara, from the Iraqi city of Hit. Some residents have already been repatriated; others simply disappear, camp officials say, as Iraq quietly takes back batches of its nationals.
Conditions are harsh. There is little schooling, parents lack medical care, and many children have never known life outside the camp’s fences.
Violence, Escapes and a Fragile Security Structure
Al Hol and Roj hold more than 27,000 family members of ISIS militants. None have been charged with crimes.
But the camps remain violent.
- Weapons are routinely smuggled inside.
- Women and older boys attempt escapes almost daily.
- Hundreds of supply trucks entering each day offer cover for organized smuggling networks.
An administrator said detainees have even built hiding spaces inside water tanks to slip out.
The security situation deteriorated sharply after the Trump administration cut U.S. humanitarian funding this year for essentials such as water, bread and medical services. Aid operations collapsed, sparking protests and attacks on relief workers.
In one incident, an extremist couple wearing homemade suicide belts refused to surrender during a search operation and were shot dead.
Governments Hesitate to Take Responsibility
Many detainees want to return to Syria, Iraq, or their home countries. But governments remain reluctant, citing national security concerns.
- Iraq has repatriated nearly 19,000 citizens and says it will return the rest.
- Syria has resettled only a few hundred.
- Western nations continue to take back small numbers of women with children — and reject those without.
One detainee, Evelyne De Herdt, a Belgian who converted to Islam before traveling to Syria with her husband, now sits in Roj camp with no path home.
Her daughter, Asia, died in 2019 during the final battles against ISIS.
Belgium has refused her return.
“Because my daughter is gone, I don’t qualify as a mother,”
she said quietly.
A Crisis Syria Inherits but Cannot Easily Solve
With U.S. troops stepping back and the SDF set to merge into a national force, the unresolved ISIS camps may soon fall fully into Syrian government hands — a responsibility fraught with political risk, humanitarian disorder and global security implications.
For now, thousands of women and children remain stranded in the desert, trapped between governments that do not want them and a past they cannot escape.