Illustrative image: source: horrya.net
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over more than 500 Iraqi and other foreign ISIS fighters to the Iraqi military on February 21, according to the UAE-based al-Arabiya TV.
Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the SDF handed over 150 terrorists to the Iraqi side under an unannounced agreement. According to the monitoring group, the US-led coalition planned and oversaw the agreement.
More than 23,200 Iraqi citizens are reportedly taking refuge at the SDF-controlled al-Haul camp in northeastern Syria. All of these Iraqi, who fled the last ISIS stronghold in the middle Euphrates River Valley, are expected to return to Iraq under the agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump argued its allies, especially in Europe, to take back their citizens who had been captured during the fight against ISIS in Syria and put them on trial. Iraq is apparently the first country to do so.
Iraq could also take ISIS members from other countries and keep them in its prisons. A recent report by the Sky News Arabia TV revealed that the US-led coalition had handed over 20 French members of ISIS to the Iraqi intelligence.
These developments indicate that Washington is planning to solve the issue with ISIS detainees in northeastern Syria before withdrawing its forces from the war-torn country.
