President demands Europe take in Islamic State fighters
Post-Gazette wire services
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump late Saturday demanded that Europe take back hundreds of fighters for the Islamic State group who were captured in Syria, threatening that the U.S. would otherwise be forced to release them.
“The United States 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,” the president tweeted, using an abbreviation for the Islamic State group, also known as 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.
“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 percent Caliphate victory!”
Kurdish forces and officials in Syria have said the same in recent weeks, appealing to countries to take back the terrorist group’s militants.
Mr. Trump caused widespread concern in December when he suddenly announced that the U.S. would withdraw its troops from Syria and that IS had already been defeated.
Critics warned that the terrorist group had not been defeated and that a pullout could lead to a resurgence, with U.S. allies in the region not equipped to handle the threat alone.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a U.S.backed Kurdish-led militia launched an offensive last week to dislodge IS from the village of Baghouz, the only area still under its control, near the Iraqi border. In that tiny patch on the banks of the Euphrates River, hundreds of militants are hiding among civilians under the shadow of a small hill — encircled by forces waiting to declare the territorial defeat of the extremist group.
At its height, the terrorists controlled an area the size of Great Britain and ruled over 10 million people.
On Friday, U.K. Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Britain will “not hesitate” to prevent the return of IS fighters to the U.K., but those who make it back will be investigated and potentially prosecuted. Downing Street referred CNN to Mr. Javid’s Friday statement when asked about Mr. Trump’s tweets.
“[N]ew terror legislation passed this week allows us to make traveling to certain designated regions an offense,” Mr. Javid said.
Mr. Trump’s tweets come days after a British teenager, who joined IS in 2015, said she wants to return home. Shamima Begum traveled from London to Syria with two of her classmates when she was 15 to join the caliphate. Now 19, she said she had no regrets about going to Syria but that she wanted to come home “to have my child.” On Saturday, her family’s lawyer announced Ms. Begum had given birth to her third child.
The German Interior Ministry said Sunday that citizens suspected of fighting for IS have the right to return to Germany. About 1,050 people are known by Germany security authorities to have left for Syria and Iraq since 2013 “in order to join the side of terrorist groups,” according to the Interior Ministry. One third, it added, have already returned to Germany, and wherever possible, “the German authorities are trying to deradicalize returnees.”