BEIRUT: Kurdish-led authorities released on Thursday hundreds of militants from Daesh imprisoned in northern Syria, as part of a general amnesty in the region controlled by the US-backed fighters.
Amina Omar, the head of the Syrian National Council, told reporters that Daesh members who were released have “no blood on their hands” and have all repented joining Daesh at some point.
“They are people who can be reformed,” Omar said shortly before the men were freed.
The Syrian Democratic Council said the 631 prisoners were released Thursday while 253 others will have their terms cut in half. It said the amnesty and the release followed requests by tribal leaders in northeastern and eastern Syria.
Kurdish authorities currently operate more than two dozen detention facilities scattered across northeastern Syria, holding about 10,000 Daesh fighters. Among the detainees are some 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them, including about 800 Europeans.
Daesh — which at the height of its power in 2014 controlled a third of both Iraq and Syria — lost its last sliver of land last year when the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces captured the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.
Since then, the extremists have gone underground, carrying out hit-and-run attacks, mostly targeting Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led fighters.
Earlier this month, the Kurdish-led authority said it will allow Syrian citizens to leave a sprawling camp that houses tens of thousands of women and children, many of them linked to Daesh.
Most of the detainees at Al-Hol camp are Syrian and Iraqi women and children. Another highly secured tent settlement that is part of the camp is known as the Annex and is home to some 10,000 hard-line Daesh supporters from other countries.
The overpopulated camp is home to a total of 65,000 people and has been a burden to the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish police in charge of security at the facility. Crime rates have been high inside the camp and some of the women have tried to escape.
Over the past 10 days dozens of families have left the camp.
Syrian Kurds free hundreds of Daesh militants as part of amnesty
https://arab.news/4st54
Syrian Kurds free hundreds of Daesh militants as part of amnesty
- Earlier this month, the Kurdish-led authority said it will allow Syrian citizens to leave a sprawling camp that houses tens of thousands of women and children, many of them linked to Daesh
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
- Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
