ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s migration ministry on Saturday said over 20,000 Iraqi nationals have been rehabilitated after returning from Syria’s notorious al-Hol camp, which housed Islamic State (ISIS) families and affiliates.

The al-Hol camp in Rojava’s (northeast Syria) Hasaka province housed tens of thousands of ISIS families and affiliates, mostly Syrian and Iraqi nationals, before efforts began to empty the establishment.

The Iraqi detainees were transferred to al-Jadaa camp, a major government-run rehabilitation and integration center south of Mosul.

Deputy Minister of Migration and Displacement, Karim al-Nouri, told state media that only 1,200 Iraqis remain at the camp while “21,000 people have been returned to their areas of origin, a significant number, and no security breaches have been recorded in the areas to which they have been returned.”

“The Iraqi file at al-Hol camp will be completely closed soon,” Nouri added.

Last month, Iraq and Syria agreed to form judicial committees to handle cases of Syrian nationals who were previously detained in al-Hol camp and were transferred to Iraq earlier in the year.

Iraq played a vital role in preventing ISIS members from taking advantage of a security vacuum when Syrian forces clashed with Kurdish-led forces in Rojava in January.

Iraq agreed to take in more than 5,700 ISIS prisoners from Syria in coordination with the US in February, after the Rojava turmoil.