QAMISHLI, Syria: Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish administration handed Tajikistan 146 women and children related to Daesh group militants, a Kurdish official said Monday, in the first such repatriation to the ex-Soviet state.
Thousands of foreign extremists joined Daesh as fighters, often bringing their wives and children to live in the “caliphate” declared by the group across swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The militants were dislodged in 2019 from their last scrap of territory in Syria by Kurdish-led forces backed by a US-led coalition, and Kurdish authorities have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens from crowded displaced camps.
But nations have mostly received them only sporadically, fearing a domestic political backlash.
The Kurds handed over “42 women and 104 children, including orphans, who were held in the Al-Hol and Roj camps” in northeast Syria to Tajikistan’s ambassador to Kuwait Zabidullah Zabidov, Kurdish foreign affairs official Fanar Al-Kaeet said.
Zabidov is handling the repatriation process for Tajikistan.
The ex-Soviet state has been in contact with Syria’s Kurds “for months” to repatriate their citizens, Kaeet said during a press conference in the northeastern city of Qamishli.
The women “did not commit any crimes or terrorist acts in northeastern Syria,” he said.
Al-Hol and Roj camps are home to tens of thousands of relatives of Daesh militants from Syria and abroad, with the former holding 10,000 foreigners.
Kurdish-led forces escorted the women, some in colorful clothing, others in long black robes, and the children, as they were bused out to Qamishli airport, AFP correspondents in Qamishli reported.
Some women tried to hide their faces.
Young children timidly peeked through the bus windows, from behind thick curtains that hid the other passengers.
Rights groups have long decried grim living conditions and rampant criminality in the north Syrian camps holding militants’ relatives.
According to HRW, more than 41,000 foreign citizens — the majority under 12 years old — are being held in camps and prisons in northeast Syria over alleged Daesh links.
Syria’s Kurds repatriate nearly 150 Daesh-linked Tajiki women, children
https://arab.news/z2ewb
Syria’s Kurds repatriate nearly 150 Daesh-linked Tajiki women, children
- The ex-Soviet state has been in contact with Syria’s Kurds ‘for months’ to repatriate their citizens
- Al-Hol and Roj camps are home to tens of thousands of relatives of Daesh militants from Syria and abroad
Syrian government foils Daesh plot to attack churches and New Year celebrations
- Bomber kills soldier in Aleppo, detonates explosives injuring 2 others
ALEPPO, DAMASCUS: The Syrian Interior Ministry announced on Thursday that it had thwarted a Daesh plot to carry out suicide attacks targeting New Year celebrations and churches, particularly in Aleppo.
The ministry said in a statement that, as part of ongoing counterterrorism efforts and careful monitoring of Daesh cells in cooperation with partner agencies, it had received intelligence indicating plans for suicide attacks targeting New Year celebrations in several provinces, particularly Aleppo, with a focus on churches and civilian gathering areas.
The ministry added that it took preemptive measures, including reinforcing security around churches, deploying mobile and fixed patrols, and setting up checkpoints across the city.
During operations at a checkpoint in Aleppo’s Bab Al-Faraj district, security forces intercepted a suspected Daesh member who opened fire. One internal security soldier was killed, and the attacker detonated explosives, injuring two others.
Daesh recently increased its attacks in Syria, and was blamed for an attack last month in Palmyra that killed three Americans.
On Dec. 13, two US soldiers and an American civilian were killed in an attack Washington blamed on a lone Daesh gunman in Palmyra.
In retaliation, American forces struck scores of Daesh targets in Syria.
Syrian authorities have also carried out several operations against Daesh since then, saying on Dec. 25 they had killed a senior leader of the group.
