At least 8 children die in Syria camp for IS wives, kids

At least eight children under the age of 5 have died in recent days from health problems linked to the dire conditions in a camp in northern Syria housing tens of thousands of female supporters of the Islamic State group and their children, the UN says.

The UN children’s agency says the eight died between August 6-10 from malnutrition or dehydration from diarrhea. The camp has yet to report any outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has sickened people in other parts of war-torn Syria.

“Any child’s death is tragic. It is even more so when the death could have been averted,” UNICEF says in a statement.

It says nearly 40,000 children from 60 countries languish at the al-Hol camp. It is operated by US-allied Kurdish forces that played a key role in dismantling the extremist group’s self-styled caliphate, which once sprawled across large areas of Syria and Iraq.

The detainees at al-Hol mainly consist of the wives of IS fighters and their children, who were captured or surrendered to Kurdish forces. With few exceptions, Western countries have refused to repatriate them, citing security concerns.

The detainees “lack access to basic services and have to contend with the sweltering summer heat and the trauma of violence and displacement,” UNICEF says.

— AP