SDF militants 'hand over' to Iraq 100 suspected Daesh terrorists captured in Syria

A group of Kurdish forces in northern Syria has handed over 100 captured terrorists from Daesh to Iraqi security officials this week, a source says.

A senior Iraqi security source said on Sunday that the terrorists, all Iraqi nationals, were being sent to the judiciary after being interrogated.

However, an official from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaking on condition of anonymity, denied the news, saying that the handover had not taken place.

The SDF, which is mainly composed of Kurdish militants, has already handed over some 900 Iraqi members of the Daesh group to Baghdad. The capture of these terrorists occurred in 2019, when Daesh had lost all of its urban strongholds in Syria to the Arab country’s army forces and their allied fighters.

According to a report the United Nations released earlier this month, about 1,600 Iraqis, suspected of being members of the terror group, were still behind bars in northeast Syria at the end of last year.

US-backed SDF hands over to Iraq 130 Daesh terrorists captured in Syria

The so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have handed over to Iraq 130 Iraqi members of the Daesh terrorist group, who had been detained in Syria.

The Iraqi authorities have so far tried thousands of its Iraqi citizens over their fighting for Daesh, which unleashed its reign of terror in Iraq in mid-2014, swiftly seizing large parts of the Arab country and killing thousands of people.

In 2005, the Iraqi parliament passed a law – known as the Counter-terror Law - that carries the death penalty for anyone convicted of “terrorism.” The law also applies to members of an extremist group even if they are not convicted of any specific acts.

The Iraqi courts have so far sentenced hundreds of detained Daesh members or those who were involved in terrorist acts to death in the war-ravaged Arab country. However, only a small proportion of these sentences have so far been carried out, as they must be approved by the president.

Incumbent President Barham Saleh, who took office in 2018, is known to be against capital punishment, and thus, has largely resisted signing execution orders in the past.

Iraq hangs three citizens convicted of ‘terrorism’ in wake of Baghdad attack: Source

Courts in Iraq have already sentenced to death hundreds of detained members of Daesh.

Two senior American military officials said the original deal was also meant to include the transfer of at least 500 Iraqi civilians from the al-Hol displacement camp in northeast Syria to Iraqi territory.

Al-Hol is home to over 60,000 people who fled Daesh-controlled areas. Around half of those living in the camp are reportedly Iraqis.

People in northeastern Syria have long protested against the the presence of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the crimes committed by the US-backed militant group.

Locals argue that the SDF’s constant raids and arrest campaign have generated a state of frustration and instability, severely affecting their businesses and livelihood.

Syrians accuse the US-backed militants of stealing crude oil and failing to spend money on service sectors.

Local councils affiliated with the SDF have also been accused of financial corruption.

Daesh was decisively defeated by the Iraqi government troops and their allied fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in late 2017. It lost most of its forces and all of its urban strongholds in the Arab country. 

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