More than 100 people have been murdered at a refugee camp far in Syria’s northeast over the last 18 months, the United Nations said, suggesting that Kurdish militia groups running the crowded facility are struggling to keep its inhabitants safe.
Since January 2021, at least 106 killings have been documented at the al-Hol camp near the border with Iraq, according to the UN’s resident coordinator for Syria, Imran Riza, who said the refugee hub had become a “very harsh place.”
Though a large number of the murders remain unsolved, Riza said “many” of the victims have been women, noting a “great deal of gender-based violence” within the camp. Some 94% of its 56,000 residents are women and children, most of whom either fled the Islamic State terrorist group, or are related to IS fighters and become refugees at some point during Syria’s decade-long civil war.