Women and children face abuse in Syria’s al-Roj camp amid chaotic handover
<article data-history-node-id="433997" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-islamic-state-women-and-children-face-abuse-syrias-al-roj-camp-amid-control-handover" class="story default clearfix">
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<span class="field field-title">Women and children face abuse in Syria’s al-Roj camp amid chaotic handover</span>
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<span class="field field-created"><time datetime="2026-02-09T22:39:07+00:00" title="9 February 2026 22:39 GMT">Mon, 02/09/2026 - 22:39</time>
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<div class="field field-field-subhead">Detainees and rights groups warn of escalating violence and uncertainty as authority over the camp shifts </div>
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<source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/syrian-al-hol-camp-northeastern-syria-children-islamic-state-reuters.JPG.webp?itok=JsyEf9Xk 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788">
<img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/syrian-al-hol-camp-northeastern-syria-children-islamic-state-reuters.JPG.webp?itok=JsyEf9Xk 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/syrian-al-hol-camp-northeastern-syria-children-islamic-state-reuters.JPG.jpg?itok=NkzAN-22" alt="Children look through a fence at al-Hol camp after the Syrian government took control of it following the withdrawal of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Hasaka, Syria, 21 January 2026 (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high">
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<div class="field field-field-cutline">Children look through a fence at al-Hol camp after the Syrian government took control of it following the withdrawal of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Hasaka, Syria, 21 January 2026 (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)</div>
<div class="field field-field-wide-photo-video">Off</div>
<div class="field field-body clearfix"><p>Concerns are mounting for the safety of women and children held in prison camps for detainees suspected of links to the Islamic State group (IS), as Kurdish authorities cede control of the camps to the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/syria">Syrian </a>government.</p>
<p>Women in al-Roj camp, where many foreign detainees are held and which remains in the hands of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told Middle East Eye that women and children had suffered mistreatment, including beatings, during nightly raids by security forces.</p>
<p>“Every night I’m in fear for my safety and the kids’ as well,” said one female detainee from a European country.</p>
<p>Women and children were being forced out of their tents, stripped of warm clothing and doused with water in freezing temperatures during the nightly raids, she said.</p>
<p>Some women, she said, have been beaten inside their tents until they lost consciousness.</p><div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"><div>
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<p>“The situation is catastrophic at night,” she said. “As soon as night falls, the women and children tremble with fear that it will be their turn next.” She added that women have also been threatened with rape.</p>
<p>The female detainee described the women as feeling powerless to protect themselves or their children.</p>
<p>“There’s no protection we can give ourselves, let alone the kids,” she said, adding that families are being asked to pay money in exchange for the return of children taken from their mothers.</p>
<p>“They’re demanding $2,000 for the return of the children they’ve taken.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'As soon as night falls, the women and children tremble with fear that it will be their turn next'</p>
<p><em>- Female detainee, Roj camp</em></p>
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<p>Similar accounts have been shared by other women inside the camp who spoke through intermediaries.</p>
<p>Another female detainee inside Roj described nightly violence and looting by authorities in control of the camp..</p>
<p>She described an atmosphere of constant fear after dark.</p>
<p>“Every night is stressful as long as they are there. As soon as we hear the car entering the camps, we are terrified,” she said, adding that women had been beaten and robbed during raids.</p>
<p>“These thieves are trying to take revenge and steal as much as possible before leaving [Roj].”</p>
<p>In one incident, the detainee said guards from the SDF entered a woman’s tent at night and attacked a child.</p>
<p>“They went into a sister’s tent and broke the young girl’s jaw with an iron bar so that her mother would give them her phone and money,” said the detainee.</p><div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"><div>
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<p>“They are now beating up the sisters so that she bows down to a military woman.”</p>
<p>A third female detainee, who witnessed the beatings, said the Kurds still control the camps, and that she is desperate to be deported back to her country. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'They’re demanding $2,000 for the return of the children they’ve taken'</p>
<p><em>- Female detainee, Roj camp</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"If the women refuse, they are beaten, but even if they hand over their phones, they are still beaten," the third woman told MEE.</p>
<p>"The children are witnessing all of this. Since it happens at night and we're in a state of fear, no one dares to film it. The abuse happens inside the tents. Sometimes I hear screams and women crying. But of course, no one dares to intervene."</p>
<p>The uncertainty follows an announcement by US Central Command (Centcom) that it was transferring some prisoners from northeast Syria to Iraq, amid broader shifts in control over detention facilities.</p>
<p>MEE approached the Syrian government and Kurdish officials from the Syrian Democratic Forces for comment. </p>
<p>Rights groups say these testimonies reflect a broader deterioration in security and treatment inside Roj camp, amid growing uncertainty over who is exercising authority on the ground.</p>
<p>Last month, the Syrian government said it planned to permanently close Roj and al-Hol camps, where tens of thousands of people swept up by the SDF in territory formerly under IS control have been held since 2019. </p>
<h3>Physical violence</h3>
<p>Beatrice Eriksson, spokesperson for the Swedish rights organisation Repatriate the Children (RTC), said women she has spoken to inside the camps have reported physical violence, threats - including death threats - and gunfire inside the camp.</p>
<p>While formal responsibility for the camps is supposed to have been handed over to the Syrian government, Eriksson said she and other activists are unsure who is in control.</p>
<p>“Is it the SDF, is it the Asayish, camp administrators and or parts of the DAANES,” said Eriksson, referring to different military and administrative entities within the Kurdish-led authorities that have governed northeast Syria for most of the past decade.</p><div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"><div>
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<p>She said there have also been multiple accounts of children being separated from their mothers, and of women and children being taken out of the camp without any information about where they are being transferred, or under whose authority.</p>
<p>According to testimonies received by RTC, the situation has worsened in the last few days after the SDF signed an agreement to hand over control of the camps to the Syrian government.</p>
<div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right">
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<p>“What is unfolding in Roj is not accidental,” said Eriksson.</p>
<p>“It is the predictable result of prolonged abandonment and failure to resolve responsibility.”</p>
<p>The Swedish social worker and activist said the women who have spoken to her fear their children will be transferred to other parts of Syria, forced into armed conflict or exploited by violent militant groups.</p>
<p>RTC argues that governments have the power to end arbitrary detention by taking responsibility for their own nationals through lawful, controlled repatriations.</p>
<p>Eriksson said repatriation should be understood not only as a child-protection measure, but also as a concrete step to prevent further exploitation and radicalisation.</p>
<p>“Children belong in schools, in families, and in protective environments, not in camps shaped by conflict and war,” she said, adding that coordinated state action is essential to reduce long-term security risks.</p>
<p>Yasmina, from the Families in Belgium group, which supports Belgian families with relatives in northeast Syria, also corroborated the reports coming out of Roj camp.</p>
<p>“We are receiving little information from the women inside the camps, but the details that are emerging are very concerning,” said Yasmina.</p>
<p>“The situation is deteriorating: curfews, constant searches, tents ransacked, young boys beaten and humiliated by the guards, women beaten and mistreated in the camp's prison, where children are also detained.”</p>
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