ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Hikmat Salman al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of the Druze, has thanked the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for offering to trade its ISIS prisoners to rescue members of the minority group taken hostage by militants in July.
Druze villages in Syria’s southwestern province of Suwayda were attacked by ISIS on July 25. Around 30 members of the religious minority group, including women and children, were kidnapped.
It is thought the militants took the Druze villagers hostage in order to trade them for ISIS commanders held prisoner by the Syrian regime. The group released a video earlier this week showing the decapitation of one of the hostages – a 19-years old university student.
The US-backed SDF issued a statement on Sunday saying it is willing to trade its own ISIS captives to secure the hostages’ release.
Hijri thanked the SDF for the offer of help.
“You relieved our heartache from what we read from the accounts of your triumphs, your history, and the splendor of your presence from the values of courage,” reads a letter from Hijri, dated August 7.
“We all are keen on the liberation of Afrin from the Turks, the scoundrels of the era, who left us nothing but sickness and enmity,” Hijri added.
He was referring to Operation Olive Branch – the Turkish-led military incursion into the Kurdish canton of Afrin in Syria’s northwest. The operation, which began January 20 and concluded in March, forced the SDF and its Kurdish-led component the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) out of Afrin.
“We pen your generous stance and honorable intervention with lines of appreciation in our pages, and your reward is on God,” Hijri added.
He said the SDF’s offer of help proved its commitment to “embodying links of brotherhood and peace”.
The SDF has liberated swathes of northern Syria from ISIS control. Around 400 Syrian men accused of joining ISIS are being held by the SDF, officials told the New York Times last month. A further 593 men from 47 other countries are also held.
ISIS has targeted religious minority communities across Iraq and Syria, most infamously the attack on Iraq’s Yezidi community in 2014. The attack on the Druze – which ISIS regard as heretics – indicates the group has resumed its old hit-and-run tactics.
Arabic media reported that Russia was negotiating with ISIS for the release of the hostages.
Druze villages in Syria’s southwestern province of Suwayda were attacked by ISIS on July 25. Around 30 members of the religious minority group, including women and children, were kidnapped.
It is thought the militants took the Druze villagers hostage in order to trade them for ISIS commanders held prisoner by the Syrian regime. The group released a video earlier this week showing the decapitation of one of the hostages – a 19-years old university student.
The US-backed SDF issued a statement on Sunday saying it is willing to trade its own ISIS captives to secure the hostages’ release.
Hijri thanked the SDF for the offer of help.
“You relieved our heartache from what we read from the accounts of your triumphs, your history, and the splendor of your presence from the values of courage,” reads a letter from Hijri, dated August 7.
“We all are keen on the liberation of Afrin from the Turks, the scoundrels of the era, who left us nothing but sickness and enmity,” Hijri added.
He was referring to Operation Olive Branch – the Turkish-led military incursion into the Kurdish canton of Afrin in Syria’s northwest. The operation, which began January 20 and concluded in March, forced the SDF and its Kurdish-led component the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) out of Afrin.
“We pen your generous stance and honorable intervention with lines of appreciation in our pages, and your reward is on God,” Hijri added.
He said the SDF’s offer of help proved its commitment to “embodying links of brotherhood and peace”.
The SDF has liberated swathes of northern Syria from ISIS control. Around 400 Syrian men accused of joining ISIS are being held by the SDF, officials told the New York Times last month. A further 593 men from 47 other countries are also held.
ISIS has targeted religious minority communities across Iraq and Syria, most infamously the attack on Iraq’s Yezidi community in 2014. The attack on the Druze – which ISIS regard as heretics – indicates the group has resumed its old hit-and-run tactics.
Arabic media reported that Russia was negotiating with ISIS for the release of the hostages.
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