BEIRUT, March 23, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Children held in Syrian camps for
relatives of suspected jihadist fighters may remain stuck there for another
30 years, unless the pace of repatriations accelerates, Save the Children
said Wednesday.

  "It will take 30 years before foreign children stuck in unsafe camps in
North East Syria can return home if repatriations continue at the current
rate," it said in a statement.

  The charity's call to quicken repatriations coincides with the third
anniversary of the final demise of the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed
caliphate.

  The massive US-backed Kurdish military operation landed tens of thousands
of the jihadist proto-state's residents in detention camps, including many
foreigners.

  Save The Children said that 18,000 Iraqi children and 7,300 minors from 60
other countries are stuck in the Kurdish-run Al-Hol and Roj camps, in
northeastern Syria.

  "The longer children are left to fester in Al-Hol and Roj, the more dangers
they face," said the charity's Syria response director, Sonia Khush.

  United Nations data shows that around 56,000 people live in Al-Hol, an
overcrowded camp plagued by murders and escape attempts.

  In 2021, 74 children died there, including eight who were murdered,
according to Save the Children.

  Kurdish authorities have repeatedly called on foreign states to repatriate
their citizens but Western countries have mostly returned them in dribs and
drabs, fearing a domestic political backlash.

  "These children have done nothing wrong," Khush said. "When will leaders
take responsibility and bring them home?"