Trump threatens to free terrorists
US TROOP PULLOUT PRESSURES EUROPE TO DEAL WITH PENDING DILEMMA
US president warns EU to accept Syria’s Daesh fighters
European nations must take back hundreds of Daesh fighters captured in Syria, President Donald Trump said late Saturday, after a delay in announcing what he said would be the end of the socalled “caliphate.”
Trump shocked allies in December by declaring the pullout of roughly 2,000 US troops who had been assisting local forces in Syria against Daesh, 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 Daesh, were captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
“The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 Daesh fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial,” Trump said in a tweet.
“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 Daesh fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go.”
Once the US-led coalition declares it has taken all Daesh 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.
@realDonaldTrump:
The US is asking European countries to take back Daesh fighters and put them on trial. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them.
Several countries, including France, that have chosen to leave the militants 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 ■ Several European countries that had previously refused to deal with their detained citizens are now considering repatriating some of them, including Kosovo. France is close to deciding whether to bring back 130 detained citizens, including men, women and children. Other European countries
are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!” Trump said in his late-Saturday tweets.
On Friday he said announcements on the fall of the socalled caliphate would be made “over the next 24 hours,” but that deadline came and went. with large numbers of detained citizens, including Germany and Belgium, are closely watching how Paris will decide, with an eye toward echoing it. France says the US pullout has forced it to deal with the detainees issue.
An SDF commander said his US-backed forces slowed their advance to protect civilians.
Trump’s Syria pullout has highlighted the deep trans-Atlantic rift that emerged under his presidency. A French government source criticised the Trump administration’s approach as “we’re leaving, you’re staying” and added: “They’re trying to manage the consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility.”