ISIS Resurgence in Al Hawl Camp and Human Smuggling Enterprises in Syria: Crime and Terror Convergence?

Al Hawl camp remains the largest Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Northeastern Syria. The camp holds people who fled ISIS as well as individuals and families connected to ISIS (members and supporters) who were displaced from its former territory. It currently holds around 68,000 people, 94% of whom are women and children. ISIS and its predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, have benefited from prison contexts which were fundamental for both groups to grow. Prisons have proven to be breeding grounds for Jihadist indoctrination and networking. Al Hawl has been part of ISIS’s strategy through crime and terror networks that have developed within the camp. ISIS residents in Al Hawl camp conduct terrorist indoctrination, radicalization, human smuggling, document fraud, forgery and financing. These criminal activities have aided ISIS in having the upper hand inside the camp while preparing its militants for a future role in case the caliphate is restored. In the meantime, since its territorial defeat two years ago, ISIS has benefited from the human smuggling networks that operate in Syria since 2011. Smuggling its fighters, facilitators and families out of the conflict zone has been an important strategy for ISIS future ambitions.