ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Wednesday handed over 50 alleged members of the Islamic State (ISIS) to Iraq, according to the Security Media Cell.
Iraq's Joint Operations Command "through joint understandings and agreements and with the aim of combatting ISIS terrorist gangs at the regional and international levels" received 50 suspected ISIS fighters from the SDF at the border crossing near Rabia town, the media cell said.
The suspects will be handed over to the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency in the interior ministry, where they will be investigated and charged appropriately.
The same scenario also played out in January when Iraq previously received 50 ISIS members from Syria at the Rabia border crossing.
ISIS seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively. However, the group still poses a threat to both countries through hit-and-run attacks, kidnappings, and bombings.
Operations on both sides of the border continue to be held to eliminate the terror group.
The SDF arrested thousands of ISIS fighters and their wives and children when they took control of the group's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019.
Most are being kept at the sprawling al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava), which Iraqi and Kurdish officials describe as a "ticking time bomb."
The security situation in al-Hol camp is deteriorating at an alarming rate with 18 deaths being reported since January amid a surge in violence inside the squalid camp.
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