Syrian Kurds urge foreign govts to take in jihadists
22 September, 2018
Kurdish-led authorities controlling northeastern Syria will not be able to hold foreign Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant fighters indefinitely, and their home countries should take them back, a senior official there said on Thursday.
Abdulkarim Omar, joint head of foreign relations in the Kurdish-led area, told journalists its administration was holding around 500 foreign fighters and 500 family members from around 40 countries, following last year’s defeat of ISIL in nearly all territories it once held in Syria and Iraq.
“For us it is a very large number because these Daeshis are dangerous and they committed massacres, and their presence in our detention is an opportunity for the international community to put them on trial,” Omar said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL members.
Backed by the United States and its allies, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia alliance captured swathes of northern and eastern Syria from ISIL over the past two years, including the jihadists’ one-time capital Raqqa.
The SDF is now fighting to take the last few villages ISIL holds along the Euphrates River in Syria, close to the border with Iraq, and has detained more foreign fighters, Omar said.
Omar said the administration in the area lacked the resources to properly rehabilitate so many prisoners. It would put Syrians on trial, but not foreigners, and it would not execute anyone as it did not impose the death penalty.
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