50 Extremists, 168 Family Members Repatriated From Syria to Iraq

A member loyal to ISIS waves a flag in Raqqa, Syria June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
A member loyal to ISIS waves a flag in Raqqa, Syria June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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50 Extremists, 168 Family Members Repatriated From Syria to Iraq

A member loyal to ISIS waves a flag in Raqqa, Syria June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
A member loyal to ISIS waves a flag in Raqqa, Syria June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Fifty ISIS militants and 168 Iraqi members of extremist families were repatriated from Syria to Iraq on Saturday, an Iraqi official said.

Iraqi authorities "received 50 members of the ISIS from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)", said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The SDF are the Kurds' de facto army in the area, and led the battle that dislodged ISIS group militants from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.

They will "be the subject of investigations and will face Iraqi justice", they added, AFP reported.

According to conflict monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights they were detained in Hasakah, northeast Syria.

Additionally, 168 relatives of ISIS-group members were repatriated from Syria's Al-Hol camp to be relocated to Al-Jadaa camp south of Mosul, the Iraqi official added, where they will undergo psychiatric treatment.

"Once we receive the assurances of their tribal leaders that they will not face reprisals, they will be sent home."

Al-Hol camp, in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, is home to about 50,000 people including family members of suspected jihadists.

Among them are displaced Syrians, Iraqi refugees as well as more than 10,000 foreigners originally from some 60 countries.

In March, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the swift repatriation of foreigners held in Al-Hol.

Nearly half of the camp's population is under the age of 12 and residents are "deprived of their rights, vulnerable, and marginalised", Guterres said in a statement during a visit to Iraq.

"I have no doubt to say that the worst camp that exists in today's world is Al-Hol, with the worst possible conditions for people and with enormous suffering for the people that have been stranded there for years," Guterres said.

Since May 2021, hundreds of families have been transferred from Al-Hol to Al-Jadaa in Iraq, with a number of those going on to flee.

The repatriation to Iraq of relatives of militants who joined the ultra-radical group that controlled one-third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017 has sparked opposition.

In December 2021, Iraqi authorities announced plans to close Al-Jadaa.

But little progress has been made and the relocation of displaced people to their home regions has proven challenging and prompted opposition from local people.



Libya's Eastern Parliament Approves Transitional Justice Law in Unity Move, MPs Say

Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo
Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo
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Libya's Eastern Parliament Approves Transitional Justice Law in Unity Move, MPs Say

Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo
Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo

Libya's eastern-based parliament has approved a national reconciliation and transitional justice law, three lawmakers said, a measure aimed at reunifying the oil-producing country after over a decade of factional conflict.

The House of Representatives (HoR) spokesperson, Abdullah Belaihaq, said on the X platform that the legislation was passed on Tuesday by a majority of the session's attendees in Libya's largest second city Benghazi.

However, implementing the law could be challenging as Libya has been divided since a 2014 civil war that spawned two rival administrations vying for power in east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

"I hope that it (the law) will be in effect all over the country and will not face any difficulty," House member Abdulmenam Alorafi told Reuters by phone on Wednesday.

The United Nations mission to Libya has repeatedly called for an inclusive, rights-based transitional justice and reconciliation process in the North African country.

A political process to end years of institutional division and outright warfare has been stalled since an election scheduled for December 2021 collapsed amid disputes over the eligibility of the main candidates.

In Tripoli, there is the Government of National Unity (GNU) under Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah that was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021, but the parliament no longer recognizes its legitimacy. Dbeibah has vowed not to cede power to a new government without national elections.

There are two competing legislative bodies - the HoR that was elected in 2014 as the national parliament with a four-year mandate to oversee a political transition, and the High Council of State in Tripoli formed as part of a 2015 political agreement and drawn from a parliament first elected in 2012.

The Tripoli-based Presidential Council, which came to power with GNU, has been working on a reconciliation project and holding "a comprehensive conference" with the support of the UN and African Union. But it has been unable to bring all rival groups together because of their continuing differences.