MILITIA HOLDING ‘HUGE NUMBER’ OF FOREIGN FIGHTERS

BEIRUT The Syrian Kurdish militia partnering with the U.S-led coalition to fight Islamic State militants said Monday that it is holding a “huge number” of foreign fighters in Syria and none of their home countries want them back.

The head of the People’s Defence Units, or the YPG, Sipan Hemo, speaking to reporters in a conference call Monday, said more than half of those detained in the battle against ISIL in Syria are foreign fighters from all over the world, including Russia, Europe, China, Japan and Arab countries.

The future of those militants remains unclear and the process for bringing them to justice unsettled amid a debate about whether they should be allowed to return home.

Hemo provided no figure for the number of detainees captured by his forces in Syria but added it was a burden to keep them.

“Up until now, no one wants to take them back or to try them. We still have them in (local) prisons,” he said.