US Aid Cut Risks Islamic State-Linked Camps in Syria

Due to changing U.S. funding, contingency plans address disease, riots, and IS attempts for detainees.

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Moves by President Donald Trump's administration to cut U.S. foreign aid funding risk destabilizing two camps in northeastern Syria holding tens of thousands of people accused of affiliation with the Islamic State, aid officials, local authorities and diplomats say.

The seven sources told the media that the Washington's funding freezes and staff changes had already disrupted some aid distribution and services in Al-Hol and Roj, which host people who fled cities where IS was making its last stand between 2017-2019.

They are "closed camps," meaning residents were not detained or charged as IS fighters but cannot independently leave the camps because of suspicions that they are affiliated with or support the ultra-conservative group.

Aid workers and camp officials - led by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led force that helps run a semi-autonomous zone in northeastern Syria - have long called for the repatriation of camp residents, among them thousands of foreigners including Westerners.