In 2018, Umm Mohammad al-Iyali bid farewell to her son, his wife Amal (a pseudonym), and their two daughters, who chose to travel by boat from northern Lebanon to Turkey in search of a better life. 

Their plans unraveled when Cypriot authorities refused to receive them, as happened to many attempting to cross the sea. They ended up in Syria, where Umm Mohammad welcomed another granddaughter, before the family was transferred to al-Hol camp.

Amal has been living there with her three daughters ever since, according to Umm Mohammad’s account, which Daraj was unable to verify with a second source.

Sawsan (a pseudonym), whom we spoke to from inside the camp, expressed her greatest fear: “I’m afraid I’ll go back and not find my family anymore.”

Daraj obtained a document listing the names of several Lebanese women who have been living in al-Hol camp since 2019. The document shows that there are 10 women, only four of whom are married, in addition to 20 minors, including 14 children under the age of five.

What is al-Hol Camp?

Al-Hol camp was established in 1991 as a shelter for Iraqi refugees following the First Gulf War. Its role changed dramatically after the fall of the Islamic State’s last strongholds in the region, becoming a detention camp for the families of ISIS fighters, most of whom are women and children.

In early 2019, more than 37,000 people, mostly wives of Islamic State fighters and their children, were displaced to areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which managed the camp from a security and humanitarian standpoint with US support. Al-Hol soon became one of the most complex issues in Syria, housing people of more than 60 nationalities. Some were repatriated to European countries in batches, others to Iraq, while the fate of individuals of other nationalities remains unknown.

The document is supposed to list the families present in the camp at the time the SDF withdrew and handed it over to the Damascus authorities. However, the paradox Daraj uncovered is that several individuals named in the list had already returned to Lebanon in earlier periods. This raises questions about the conduct of the SDF, which continued to present these individuals to donor agencies as residents of the camp despite their departure.

We contacted al-Hol camp director Jehan Hanna for clarification. She said that registering names falls under the responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), adding: “I don’t know who leaves and who enters the camp. My role is to act as a liaison between the camp and humanitarian organizations.”

Families Waiting to Return

“While they were trying to smuggle her into Lebanon, a landmine exploded under the car carrying my son’s family, leading to the amputation of Amal’s leg. Today she is disabled and in critical condition,” Umm Mohammad says, describing the situation of her daughter-in-law and three granddaughters, who entered al-Hol camp in late 2018.

Umm Mohammad has never met her youngest granddaughter, who was born inside the camp. Her son was later killed in one of the battles, leaving his wife alone with their daughters inside the camp.

According to the document, Amal was registered in al-Hol camp on February 27, 2019. At the time, her husband was still alive, so she was recorded as married rather than widowed. She is now 36 years old.

Communication between Umm Mohammad and her daughter-in-law never stopped, but it has been extremely difficult, especially with weak network coverage and the escalation of fighting in recent months. In their last phone call, about two days ago, Amal told her that she sends her daughters out every day to look for flour or anything edible, but without success.

“With heartbreak, she told me the mother and her little girls went two days without food. The girls were sleeping on empty stomachs, and there was nothing I could do,” Umm Mohammad says. She adds, “Conditions were bad under SDF control, but they haven’t improved even after the Syrian government recently took over. The network is still almost nonexistent, and although the United Nations brought in aid last Friday, it’s not enough for everyone.”

Sawsan, for her part, married a Syrian man and moved to Syria. Her last stop was Deir ez-Zor, where Syrian regime forces arrested her husband, who was eventually transferred to Sednaya prison. She says that after the fall of the regime, she tried to inquire about him but found no trace. Amid continued clashes and heavy shelling at the time, she took her children to al-Hol camp with other families who saw it as a refuge. She has now been stuck there for eight years.

Escaping the Camp

In 2024, Amina managed to secure $6,000, which she paid to the SDF, then in control of al-Hol camp, before it withdrew on January 13 following clashes with the Syrian army. In return, she was allowed to leave the camp with her two sons, while her daughter remained in al-Roj camp in northeastern Syria, she told Daraj.

Sawsan described life in the camp to Daraj, saying: “I pretended to be Syrian, not foreign, so the treatment would be easier and I could move more freely.”

She later managed to gather some money and crossed the Syrian border into Lebanon with the help of a smuggler. She then turned herself in to General Security, which decided to imprison her for a full year at the Barbara Khazen barracks in Beirut, before releasing her.

Amina was unable to smuggle her daughter out with her, as the girl was taken to al-Roj camp. She has not seen her since. “I hope my daughter will be next. I want to see her. What did she do to deserve staying in the camp?” she told Daraj bitterly.

Amina married in Lebanon to a Lebanese national, but the family chose to move to Syria, where living costs were lower, she said.

As for Umm Mohammad al-Iyali’s daughter-in-law, after a failed escape attempt, she is still trying to flee under the harsh conditions she faces and her need for surgeries following her leg amputation.

Umm Mohammad told Daraj that she reached an agreement with a smuggler who demanded $18,000 to get her daughter-in-law and granddaughters out of the camp. She said she gathered the amount by selling household furniture, borrowing money, and relying on aid, but the route was always blocked.

Sawsan also tried to escape several times, but the cost reached $25,000 per family. “I don’t have that kind of money, and the amount is huge. Our fate was to stay here,” she said.

An Absent State and Meetings With Husbands

After the Syrian government took control of al-Hol camp, some husbands were allowed to meet their refugee wives. According to Sawsan, this was the first meeting between them since they were transferred to the camp.

Despite the Syrian government’s control of the camp in recent weeks, Sawsan said she has not received any reassuring contact from Lebanese authorities. Umm Mohammad also revealed that she tried to contact a Lebanese security official, who told her, “Bring your daughter out through smuggling.”

Sawsan continues to try to return to her home in Lebanon to reunite with her family after years of suffering.

Daraj attempted to contact Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji to ask about the fate of Lebanese women in al-Hol camp, but received no response by the time of publication.