SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Syrian Kurdish authorities handed over 324 women and children of the Islamic State (ISIS) militants to their countries in 2021, according to a media report.
Sixty-six women and 265 children have been repatriated by their countries during this year, North Press Agency (NPA) cited statistics from the Qamishli-based Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
The Syrian Kurds handed over 92 women and children to Uzbekistan, 62 to Russia, 31 to Germany, 20 to Sweden, 17 to Denmark, 16 to Belgium, 14 to Albania, and 11 others to Macedonia, NPA said.
They also handed over seven children and a woman to Ukraine, four children to France, three children and a woman to the Netherlands, three children to Britain, two children and a woman to Finland, two others to Canada, two other children to Switzerland, two others to Palestine and one child to Norway, according to NPA.
The Kurdistan Region repatriated 23 women and children in four stages during the year, the news agency said.
In March, ten Yazidi children were also reunited with their family, NPA reported.
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria hold thousands of foreigners with alleged ties to the militant group in their custody, after spearheading a U.S.-backed battle against ISIS that seized the last patch of their territory in early 2019.
Alleged foreign fighters are held in jails, while women and children with ties to the group live in camps for the displaced in northeast Syria.
Syrian Kurds have repeatedly urged the international community to repatriate foreign nationals held in crowded camps.
