The population of the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria has swelled to nearly 57,000 after 600 people from the last remaining territory controlled by the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia) arrived at the encampment on Tuesday morning, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Syria said in a statement
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2019) The population of the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria has swelled to nearly 57,000 after 600 people from the last remaining territory controlled by the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia) arrived at the encampment on Tuesday morning, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Syria said in a statement."Six hundred people from the last ISIL-held areas of Al-Baghouz in Deir-Ez-Zor Governorate, arrived at Al Hol camp this morning, bringing the total camp population to nearly 57,000. Triage and screening is ongoing," OCHA Syria said in a statement posted on Twitter.
In an earlier post, OCHA Syria noted that more than 90 percent of the camp's population are women and children.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday that it had resumed its offensive on Baghuz following the evacuation of civilians. According to the SDF, only militants have remained in Baghuz.
Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and terrorist groups. The conflict has significantly worsened the humanitarian situation in the Arab republic and forced millions of people to leave their place of permanent residence or even flee the country.
The US-led coalition, which consists of over 70 countries, is conducting military operations against the IS in Syria and Iraq. The coalition's operations in Syria are not authorized by the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.
