FT: Thousands escaped Al-Hol camp after control shift in Syria

More than 20,000 detainees have escaped from the Al-Hol camp, which housed supporters of the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria, after the area came under the control of Syrian government forces, according to a report by Financial Times.

The newspaper reported that “over the past month, as Kurdish forces that had previously controlled nearby areas were pushed out by Syrian government security forces, almost all of the 24,000 detainees quietly disappeared.”

Journalists said thousands of prisoners managed to flee through breaches in the camp’s perimeter fencing and have since dispersed across Syria, with some reportedly crossing illegally into Iraq and Türkiye. Only around 2,000 detainees — primarily Iraqi and Syrian nationals — are believed to remain at the facility.

Syria’s political landscape shifted in 2024, when on December 8, the command of the Free Syrian Army, backed by the US and Türkiye, announced that the rule of Bashar Assad had “ended.” Assad subsequently left the country after ordering a peaceful transfer of power.

In January 2026, Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, signed a ceasefire and integration agreement between the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces. The following month, Syrian government troops took control of several US military bases in the country.

By Tamilla Hasanova