Fear in Iraq's Mosul as IS families return from Syria | THE DAILY STAR

The return of dozens of Iraqi families suspected of links to the Islamic State group from Syria to Mosul has sparked fears among residents who survived the horrors of IS rule.

Around 300 people from some 90 families left the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria on Tuesday under Iraqi army escort, a Kurdish administration official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

It was the first repatriation of Iraqi families from the camp, which is home to more than 60,000 people including relatives of IS fighters, and came as part of an agreement between Baghdad and the multinational coalition battling the jihadists.

But the move has stirred up nightmares for many Mosul residents.

For three years, Mosul was the heart of IS's self-proclaimed "caliphate".

IS fighters imposed a strict interpretation of Muslim "sharia" law, banning music and smoking and meting out brutal punishments, including public beheadings, for those who violated their rules....AFP