BAGHDAD: Iraq has repatriated more than 150 additional families from Al-Hol camp in the neighboring Syrian Arab Republic, an Iraqi security official said on Thursday, the latest such transfer from the camp where many have alleged terrorist links.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in northeastern Syria still hold about 56,000 people from dozens of countries, many of them the family members of Daesh suspects, more than five years after the terrorists’ territorial defeat in Syria.

While many Western countries refuse to take back their nationals, Baghdad has taken the lead by accelerating repatriations and urging others to follow suit.

The latest group of 505 people is the sixth since the beginning of the year to be repatriated. 

They left the camp on Wednesday, said Jihan Hanan, Al-Hol’s director.

The Iraqi security official confirmed that about “153 families arrived yesterday” in Iraq.

Daesh captured nearly a third of Iraq before local forces, backed by a US-led coalition, defeated them in 2017.

In Syria, US-backed Kurdish forces dislodged IS from the last of its Syrian-held territory in 2019.

Al-Hol is located in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Syria.

Iraq has intensified its efforts to bring back its nationals amid concerns about the security situation in Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad in December, Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji said last week.