The United Nations (UN) indicates that it will assume control of a camp in north-eastern Syria that has thousands of people who are suspected of having connections to the jihadist organisation Islamic State (IS).

This follows an exodus by Kurdish-led forces that had been operating the camp amid an onslaught by Syrian government troops, and this led to unrest, and aid agencies suspended operations.

Unrest and looting were reported, with residents apparently rushing camp perimeters in an apparent attempt to escape.

The north-east of Syria was under Kurdish rule for a long time, but a ceasefire accord has enabled much of the country to fall under Damascus control.

On 22nd January, the UN Security Council was briefed by UN official Edem Wosornu, who said that the UN refugee agency UNHCR had assumed control of camp management duties at al-Hol and was in collaboration with Syrian authorities to restore humanitarian access. The camp, she said, was surrounded by a security perimeter by Syrian forces.

Nevertheless, the UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric warned that the situation in the country was still tense and volatile, and humanitarian action continued to be blocked after the violence.

Meanwhile, the US has also made a parallel attack on clearing the high-risk detainees out of the area altogether. On Wednesday, US Central Command announced that it was beginning to transfer as many as 7,000 suspected IS fighters in northeast Syria to Iraq, and that 150 detainees had already transferred to a secure location across the border.

Iraqi officials indicated that all detainees handed over would be charged under Iraqi law.

“It is a step to ensure that regional and international security is not threatened by an impending danger. However, we emphasise that this problem cannot be allowed to become a long-term strategic drain on Iraq by itself, and the deputy UN ambassador of Iraq,” Mohammed Sahib Mejid Marzooq made the statement.

The UN ambassador of Syria, Ibrahim Olabi, indicated that the Syrian government was happy about the US operation to transfer IS prisoners outside the Syrian territory and would be willing to provide assistance.

Rights groups have threatened that the transfers would subject detainees to severe abuses.

The Reprieve charity added that it felt as many as ten British men might be included in the number of those being transferred, as well as juvenile prisoners and called on the UK government to act immediately. It claimed that approximately 55 to 60 British nationals, including the majority of them children, are still in detention in the region in camps and prisons.

According to Katherine Cornett, the deputy director at Reprieve, “the prisoners transferred face being tortured, sentenced to death and executed, without being given any meaningful opportunity to challenge the allegations against them.”

One group of refugees that the US and UN are urging to repatriate are the foreign-led IS suspects and their families in the north-eastern region of Syria, claiming that the political conditions and the deplorable living conditions are leading to the situation, but most nations have declined to accept them.