1,100 refugee families return to Iraq from Syria

By Osman al-Shalash

BAGHDAD

More than 1,000 refuge families have returned to Iraq from war-torn Syria, according to the Ministry of Migration and Displacement.

In a Saturday statement, ministry official Mohamed Iyad said 1,100 families have been relocated from al-Hawl refugee camp in northeastern Syria’s al-Hasakah province to northern Iraq.

There are around 7,000 Iraqi refugees residing in al-Hawl camp after fleeing the Daesh-held Nineveh province in western Iraq.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh captured Mosul -- the country’s second largest city -- and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people -- more than half of them children -- are now internally displaced in Iraq.