US and Regional Countries Team Up to Resolve the Issue of ISIS Prisoners in Syria

File photo: Aleppo central prison. AAWSAT AR
File photo: Aleppo central prison. AAWSAT AR
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US and Regional Countries Team Up to Resolve the Issue of ISIS Prisoners in Syria

File photo: Aleppo central prison. AAWSAT AR
File photo: Aleppo central prison. AAWSAT AR

Türkiye, the United States, Syria and Iraq have formed a working group to try to resolve the issue of ISIS group prisoners held in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published Thursday.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, control large parts of northeast Syria bordering Türkiye and Iraq and oversee more than a dozen prison camps holding thousands of suspected ISIS fighters and their families.

US President Donald Trump asked the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” for some 9,000 ISIS prisoners when he met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14.

Erdogan said a committee had been formed to work out what to do with the prisoners, particularly women and children held at refugee camps such as Al-Hol in northern Syria. His comments on the presidential website were released as he returned from a trip to Hungary.

“Iraq needs to focus on the issue of the camps,” Erdogan said. “The vast majority of women and children in the Al Hol camp in particular belong to Iraq and Syria. They should do what is necessary for them.”

In 2014, ISIS declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and attracted tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. The extremists were defeated by a US-led coalition in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Tens of thousands of people linked to the group were taken to al-Hol camp close to the Iraqi border.

It is anticipated that the government in Damascus will take control of the prison camps, a move Erdogan said would make it easier to integrate the Kurdish forces in Syria.

Kurdish fighters in Syria have ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which on May 12 agreed to dissolve and lay down its weapons following a four-decade insurgency against Türkiye.

Meanwhile, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Thursday that Türkiye will start exporting natural gas to provide electricity to Syria.

“We will soon start exporting gas that will reach Aleppo and Homs, with an annual contribution of approximately 2 billion cubic meters, or 1,200 to 1,300 megawatts, to the electricity production here,” he said during a joint news conference in Damascus.

Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed Bashir said a gas pipeline coming from Türkiye’s Kilis would become operational in June. The heat from burning gas is used to create electricity by spinning a turbine that in turn powers a generator.

Bayraktar said the increase in gas exports represented a tripling of the present level. He added that Türkiye was helping Syria to exploit its own oil and gas resources as well as “discovering new resources, on both land and sea, and using the economic values ... from these in Syria’s reconstruction and infrastructure.”



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.