Commander: 240 Iraqi refugee families repatriated in Anbar, Salahuddin
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Two-hundred and forty Iraqi families have been repatriated to their home regions in Anbar and Salahuddin provinces after expelling Islamic State militants, a military commander was quoted saying.
Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Falahi, commander of Anbar Operations, was quoted Wednesday by IkhNews saying that buses were secured to return those families along with their belongings.
“Those families have lived at refugee camps for four years,” Falahi said.
Refugee camps in Anbar still host tens of thousands of displaced families.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch accused Iraqi security officials in Anbar of hampering the repatriation of civilians at areas retaken from the Islamic State over suspicions of having links with the militant group.
In the same time, the organization said Iraqi officials were also forcing other reluctant families to return home even as those families feel it is unsafe to repatriate.
The United Nations says nearly five million people have been displaced since Islamic State militants took over large areas of Iraq in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate.”
Ministry: 446 Iraqi refugees in Syria returned to Nineveh
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A total of 446 Iraqis who had sought refuge in a Syrian camp from Islamic State militancy have returned to their home regions, the Iraqi migration ministry said Wednesday.
Khaled Abdel-Karim, head of the Ministry of Migration and Displacement’s office in Nineveh, told Alghad Press that nearly 446 refugees al-Houl camp in in Syria’s Hassaka returned to the province.
“The refugees were transported to Hammam al-Alil camp south of Nineveh for security vetting and will stay there for the time being”.
In October, the ministry said it returned 1250 refugees displaced by the war against Islamic State militants from the same camp.
Al-Houl contains 130 housing units that can admit 200 families, and was established during the United States invasion of Iraq under a United Nations supervision.
Iraqi authorities had unveiled plans to repatriate all refugees before this year’s end. A campaign launched in 2016, and backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, managed to retake all of Islamic State-held territories, most notably Mosul, the group’s former capital, by November 17th.