ISTANBUL: Turkiye, the United States, Syria and Iraq have formed a working group to try to resolve the issue of Daesh group prisoners held in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published Thursday.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, control large parts of northeast Syria bordering Turkiye and Iraq and oversee more than a dozen prison camps holding thousands of suspected Daesh — also known as Islamic State or IS — fighters and their families.
US President Donald Trump asked the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” for some 9,000 Daesh prisoners when he met Syrian President President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14.
Erdogan said a committee had been formed to work out what to do with the prisoners, particularly women and children held at refugee camps such as Al-Hol in northern Syria. His comments on the presidential website were released as he returned from a trip to Hungary.
“Iraq needs to focus on the issue of the camps,” Erdogan said. “The vast majority of women and children in the Al Hol camp in particular belong to Iraq and Syria. They should do what is necessary for them.”
In 2014, Daesh declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and attracted tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. The extremists were defeated by a US-led coalition in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Tens of thousands of people linked to the group were taken to Al-Hol camp close to the Iraqi border.
It is anticipated that the government in Damascus will take control of the prison camps, a move Erdogan said would make it easier to integrate the Kurdish forces in Syria.
Kurdish fighters in Syria have ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which on May 12 agreed to dissolve and lay down its weapons following a four-decade insurgency against Turkiye.
US and regional countries team up to resolve the issue of Daesh prisoners in Syria
https://arab.news/yw6y3
US and regional countries team up to resolve the issue of Daesh prisoners in Syria
- President Trump asked the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” Daesh prisoners
- Some 9,000 Daesh prisoners are being held by the US-backed SDF in northeast Syria
Syria transition ‘fragile’, one year on: UN investigators
- The commission said moving beyond the legacy of war and destruction would take “great strength, patience and support”
GENEVA: Syria’s transition is fragile, one year on from the overthrow of ruler Bashar Assad, and the country’s cycles of vengeance and reprisal need to end, United Nations investigators said Sunday.
Syrians have been marking the first anniversary since Islamist-led forces pressed a lightning offensive to topple Assad on December 8, 2024 after nearly 14 years of war.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria investigates and records all international human rights law violations since March 2011 in the country.
The panel congratulated Syria on the steps it has taken so far to address the crimes and abuses inflicted during previous decades.
But it said violent events since Assad’s downfall had caused renewed displacement and polarization, “raising worries about the future direction of the country.”
The commission said the “horrific catalogue” of abuse inflicted by Assad’s regime “amounted to industrial criminal violence” against Syria’s people.
“The cycles of vengeance and reprisal must be brought to an end, so that Syria can continue to move toward a future as a state that guarantees full respect for the human rights of all its people, with equality, the rule of law, peace and security for all in name and in deed,” the commission said.
“Syria’s transition is fragile. While many across the country will celebrate this anniversary, others are fearing for their present security, and many will sleep in tents again this winter. The unknown fate of many thousands who were forcibly disappeared remains an open wound.”
The commission said moving beyond the legacy of war and destruction would take “great strength, patience and support.”
“The Syrian people deserve to live in peace, with full respect for rights long denied, and we have no doubt they are up to the task,” it said.
The three-person commission is tasked with establishing facts with a view to ensuring that the perpetrators of violations are ultimately held accountable.
The UN Human Rights Council extended its mandate for a further year in April.
