ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Overwhelmed by the number of militants in its custody as the territorial power of the Islamic State (ISIS) group crumbles, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) says it is ready to hand over more Iraqi and Kurdish ISIS fighters to Baghdad and Erbil authorities.
More than 4,000 militants have surrendered to the SDF over the last month according to Mustafa Bali, spokesperson for the SDF Media Office.
“Five hundred of them were Iraqis,” Bali told Rudaw. “We have so far handed over 250 Iraqi ISIS fighters … and according to an agreement between us, the Iraqi ISIS fighters remaining in the SDF prisons will be handed over in several phases so they are tried there.”
The militants once controlled 88,000 sq km of territory in Iraq and Syria, where around eight million people lived under its strict Islamist regime.
“Some of the Iraqi ISIS members had also brought in their family members to Syria, who are also being held in our prisons. And we asked the Iraqi government to take back their family members as well, and they have accepted that,” Bali said.
Thousands of foreigners poured into Syria and Iraq to join the so-called ‘caliphate’ proclaimed by the group’s leader Abu Baker al-Baghdadi from a mosque in Mosul. Among the foreigners, hundreds of Kurds from Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey joined the group to fight alongside the extremist group.
“There were many Kurdish ISIS fighters, some were killed in the war and some fled to Europe after the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq,” Bali told Rudaw.
“More than 40 of them have turned themselves in to our forces and they are now being held captive. Most of them are from southern Kurdistan [Iraq] and around 10 of these Kurds are from eastern Kurdistan [Iran],” he added.
The SDF is under extreme pressure as the number of jihadists in its custody grows day by day. The Kurdish-led group is capturing the remnants of ISIS in its last stronghold of Baghouz, eastern Syria.
“We have spoken to the Kurdistan Regional Government about handing them over and they have expressed readiness to take them back in and try them in the Kurdistan Region,” Bali told Rudaw on Saturday via telephone.
Referring to ISIS fighters from the Kurdish region of Iran, Bali said: “They are from eastern Kurdistan. But we haven’t yet decided whether or not to hand them over to Iran.”
Many Kurds went to Syria for jihad against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after the civil war broke out in the country. They initially joined the al-Nusra Front – a former Al-Qaeda affiliate – but most of them joined ISIS after the terrorist group emerged.
“When ISIS first infiltrated Iraq and Syria, nearly 500 Kurdish youths joined them,” Mariwan Naqishbandi, head of relations and religious coexistence at the KRG ministry of religious affairs, told Rudaw. “But we don’t have information about the handing over of Kurdish ISIS fighters.”
“Three hundred Kurdish ISIS fighters were killed in battle and 150 of them either turned themselves in to KRG security forces or were arrested,” Naqishbandi said. “Some of them have now been tried and released after it was established it was safe to do so. Moreover, 40 to 50 of them remain missing and we don’t know whether they are living or were killed.”
Bizhar Koramarki, head of Duhok security (Asayesh), told Rudaw his office is yet to receive any Kurdish ISIS suspects.
“The SDF has not yet handed over any ISIS fighters to us. But we will take them back in whenever the authorities decide to take them,” he said.
The SDF holds several hundred foreign ISIS fighters and has repeatedly called on home nations to take them back. They have even warned the fighters could be released.
“We still hold many fighters from Arab and European countries and have called on their home countries to take them back. But these countries are not yet prepared to take them back,” Bali said.
