- The repatriation marks the largest ever as thousands languished in the camp.
- The operation involved US agencies, Kuwait, and pro-US Kurdish fighters.
- The repatriation included 11 US citizens, five minors, and a nine-year-old non-US sibling of an American.
On Tuesday, the United States announced that it had repatriated two dozen Western citizens, half of whom were Americans, from a camp for Daesh prisoners in Syria. This marked the largest-ever repatriation as thousands languished in the camp.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that in a complex operation involving US agencies, Kuwait, and pro-US Kurdish fighters, the United States brought back 11 US citizens, including five minors, as well as a nine-year-old non-US sibling of an American.
In the same operation, the United States facilitated the repatriation of six Canadian citizens, four Dutch citizens, and one Finnish citizen, including eight children, he said.
“This is the largest single repatriation of US citizens from northeast Syria to date,” Blinken said in a statement.
“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis in the displaced persons camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate and, where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” he said.
The United States has long urged European governments to repatriate nationals who went to fight for the Daesh group — or their children. Most European countries have complied, albeit slowly and despite initial reservations, especially in countries with a history of jihadist attacks at home such as France and Britain.
Blinken did not identify the individuals who were repatriated.
Unidentified sources cited by The New York Times reportedly included an American woman, whose Turkish husband apparently took the family to Daesh territory and was later killed, along with their nine children.
Last week, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported that a man who had joined Daesh and then became a valuable informant was seeking to have his two sons repatriated, one apparently not a US citizen, to be raised by their grandparents in Minnesota.
The repatriations remain controversial in the United States as well, with the administration of former president Donald Trump in one prominent case insisting that a young woman seeking to return was not legitimately a US citizen.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) helped US forces crush the Daesh group.
Five years after ousting the extremists from their last territory, the SDF still detains more than 56,000 individuals with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group.
Kurdish authorities have urged foreign governments to repatriate their nationals, but Western governments have slowly responded, fearing domestic backlash.
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