Take back jihadists we captured in eastern Syria: US tells Europe
800 TERRORISTS HELD Most of the Islamic State fighters hail from Britain, Germany and France
WASHINGTON/AL-OMAROILFIELDBASE: European nations must take back hundreds of Islamic State (IS) fighters captured in Syria, US President Donald Trump has said, after a delay in announcing what he said would be the end of the “caliphate”.
Trump shocked allies i n December by declaring the pullout of roughly 2,000 US troops who had been assisting local forces in Syria against IS, whose sole remaining territory is half a square kilometre in eastern Syria.
The pending US pullout set off a countdown for governments whose citizens, having joined IS, were captured by the Us-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
“The US is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial,” Trump said in a tweet on Saturday, using another name for IS.
“The caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them. The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go.”
Once the Us-led coalition declares it has taken all IS territories, the White House is expected to withdraw American troops.
When that happens, the risk is high that “foreign terrorist fighters” will escape SDF control, posing a new threat.
For about two weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its allies to take their citizens home, and the US said it was ready to help in the repatriation, but time has been running out.
Several countries, including France, that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention now confront a diplomatic, legal, political and logistical puzzle.
“We do so much, and spend so much - time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% caliphate victory!” Trump said in his tweets.
TERRORISTS HOLDING 1,000 PEOPLE HOSTAGE
The Us-backed Syrian militia fighting the IS in its last toehold in Syria says there are over 1,000 civilians trapped in the tiny area and that the militant group is preventing them from leaving.
Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, said on Sunday that IS has closed all the roads in and out.
SDF officials have said the extremists are hiding among civilians in a tented village and using a network of caves and tunnels.
US APPEAL FOR NATO PERSONNEL REJECTED
A US appeal for NATO allies to fill the void left by its imminent withdrawal from Syria was dismissed by Spain’s foreign minister, still bristling at Trump’s decision to bring his troops home.
US vice-president Mike Pence told reporters at the Munich Security Conference that the US is asking NATO members and other partners to provide “the resources and the support and the personnel” required to prevent a resurgence of IS once US operations conclude.
“Requests between countries aren’t made in press releases or conference comments,” Spain’s Josep Borrell said at a briefing in Munich on Saturday. ”Spain and the majority of countries aren’t prepared to step in for the US after a withdrawal that was decided in a unilateral way, by surprise.”
At the conference, Pence argued that the US pullout move is a “change in tactics, not a change in mission”.