By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -U.S. assistance for managing and securing camps in northeastern Syria with Islamic State-linked prisoners “cannot last forever,” the acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea, told the Security Council on Wednesday.
“The United States has shouldered too much of this burden for too long. Ultimately, the camps cannot remain a direct U.S. financial responsibility,” she told the 15-member council, referencing the al-Hol and Roj displaced persons camps.
“We accordingly continue to urge countries to expeditiously repatriate their displaced and detained nationals who remain in the region,” she said.
Packed with families linked to Islamic State after the extremist Sunni Muslim group’s defeat in Syria in 2019, the al-Hol camp has a population of around 40,000.
It is widely viewed as a breeding ground for extremism and a security concern for regional states, particularly neighbouring Iraq, where Islamic State at one point controlled about a third of the country.
Camp authorities – led by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led force that controls northeast Syria – have long called on countries to repatriate citizens in the camp, which hosts thousands of foreigners.
Iraq has repatriated more than 10,000, according to Iraqi officials, but few Western states have shown interest in following suit. Of those currently in the camp, nearly 16,000 are Syrians, camp authorities say.
“U.S. assistance has played a vital role in managing and securing al-Hol and Roj displaced persons camps in northeast Syria, and, critically, Syrian Democratic Forces-managed facilities detaining thousands of ISIS fighters, but this assistance cannot last forever,” Shea said.
Her remarks come after Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept through Syria in a lightning offensive, ending more than 50 years of iron-fisted rule by Assad’s family.
Talks facilitated by the U.S. and France are under way to determine the SDF’s future. The new Syrian ruling authorities have said it would seek to assert control over the entire country.
“Ongoing armed hostilities in northern Syria are also concerning, and the United States will continue to pursue a ceasefire that will enable our local partners to focus on combating ISIS and maintain security of detention facilities and displaced persons camps,” Shea said.
The United States has some 2,000 troops in Syria, mostly in the northeast.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; additional reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Rod Nickel)
