#SDF says prison in #Hasakah #Syria under control following a day-long riot by #ISIS prisoners "which required the intervention of special forces and anti-terrorist forces" and also negotiations w/the ISIS prisoners, per @SdfSpokesperson https://t.co/ZQDRdV4opL
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) May 4, 2020
US Backs Release of ‘Low-Level’ Islamic State Prisoners in Syria
By Jeff Seldin
October 20, 2020
WASHINGTON - An effort to reduce growing strains on overcrowded prisons in Syria, some holding thousands of captured Islamic State fighters, is being met with cautious optimism in Washington, even though it involves letting hundreds of the terror group’s adherents walk free.
The plan put into motion last week by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political arm of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), calls for the release of so-called “low-level” Islamic State members under a general amnesty.
Already, 631 such Syrian nationals have been freed, allowed to return to their homes, while another 253 have seen their sentences cut in half, and Kurdish officials say more releases are expected in the coming months.
So far, the United States is on board.
“We see these return and reintegration initiatives as positive,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA, noting the release “focused on nonviolent offenders who are not assessed to pose a radicalization risk to their communities.”
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, also suggested aid could be available to help the process go smoothly.
“We, along with our coalition partners, are prepared to support receiving communities as part of ongoing stabilization initiatives,” the spokesperson said.
Concerns about what to do with captured IS fighters and IS supporters have only grown since the collapse of the terror group’s caliphate in March 2019.
Within months, key Pentagon officials were warning that the more than a dozen makeshift prisons set up by the SDF to hold, at the time, more than 10,000 captured IS fighters, including 2,000 foreign fighters, were simply not sustainable.
US officials have long warned the #SDF prisons, while "good enough," could not hold indefinitely
"There are not prisons controlled by forces in northeast Syria that can house 10,000 #ISIS fighters" the Pentagon's Defeat IS Task Force said last Septemberhttps://t.co/8lMVCLCGn0
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) April 3, 2020
