The UN on Wednesday praised Iraq for repatriating tens of thousands of its citizens from camps that housed ISIS prisoners and their relatives in north-east Syria.
And it urged the international community to stay focused on families linked to the extremist group.
Ghulam Isaczai, the resident and humanitarian co-ordinator for the world body in Iraq, said about 23,000 Iraqi nationals had gone home in recent years with UN support, as a smaller number of unresolved cases remain in detention across the Syrian north-east.
The world body is reducing its presence after the end of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq mandate, which formally ended at the end of 2025 after more than two decades.
“I think it’s very important for us to recognise Iraq’s role in the returning of its citizens from north-east Syria,” Mr Isaczai said.
Their prolonged detention has become one of the most politically sensitive and legally complex legacies of the war against ISIS.
“It’s been an increasingly difficult issue for the world,” Mr Isaczai said. “Iraq needs to be commended for taking the decision to return the majority of those citizens.”
He said between 2,000 and 3,000 Iraqi nationals remain in north-east Syria, although it is unclear whether they will seek to return
Those cases are among the most challenging, he said, describing them as a “mixed group” that includes families alleged but not necessarily proven to have ISIS ties.
Iraqi authorities usually send assessment teams, working with coalition partners and humanitarian agencies, to review individual profiles before authorising return.
Some Iraqi nationals are still held in detention centres in north-east Syria, Mr Isaczai said. The UN is less directly involved in those cases, which are handled between the Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces, particularly for adult detainees suspected of being ISIS fighters, he added.
Calls to scale down Al Hol camp in Syria have grown louder amid US funding cuts and political shifts in the country's north-east, adding urgency to Iraq’s repatriation work.
The notorious camp, run by Kurdish forces, holds tens of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and foreign nationals – mostly women and children – with many linked to ISIS after the group’s defeat.
The camp’s population peaked at more than 70,000 in 2019 during the final offensive against the militants.
The UN has repeatedly warned that leaving families and detainees in prolonged limbo risks deepening humanitarian suffering and fuelling future instability.
It has urged countries to repatriate their nationals and pursue reintegration or prosecution through legal channels.
