SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over 100 alleged members of Islamic State (ISIS) militant group to the Iraqi government, AFP cited a security source as saying.
The security source told AFP that the Iraqi fighters were being interrogated before being transferred to the judiciary.
An official with the Kurdish forces in northeast Syria denied the handover had taken place, according to AFP.
The SDF has already handed over around 900 Iraqis caught fleeing the last remnants of the ISIS “caliphate” in 2019, the news agency said.
Around 1,600 Iraqis were still detained in northeast Syria at the end of last year over allegedly fighting for ISIS, according to a U.N. report released this month.
Iraq has tried thousands of its nationals for belonging to a “terrorist group”, which carries the death penalty in accordance with the country’s 2005 counter-terror law.
AFP also cited two senior officials from the U.S.-led Coalition as saying that the original deal was meant to include the transfer of at least 500 Iraqi civilians from the al-Hol displacement camp in northeastern Syria to Iraqi territory.
