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US Allies in Syria Hand over Chechen ISIS Families to Russia

Chechen families whose fathers and husbands are suspected to have fought for ISIS. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Chechen families whose fathers and husbands are suspected to have fought for ISIS. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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US Allies in Syria Hand over Chechen ISIS Families to Russia

Chechen families whose fathers and husbands are suspected to have fought for ISIS. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Chechen families whose fathers and husbands are suspected to have fought for ISIS. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

On board a modern passenger jet, Luciana and a number of Chechen families arrived in Syria’s northeastern city of al-Qamishli from the Ain Issa camp before being transferred to Russian government.

A Grozny native in her mid-40s, Luciana, did not hide her confusion upon her arrival in Qamishli.

In broken Arabic, she explained her journey to Syria: “I traveled with my husband in the summer of 2014 and we settled down in Raqqa.”

“My husband was a member of ISIS and we had two children,” she continued.

“My husband was killed in an airstrike at the beginning of this year. Since then, I have remained alone with my children. After the battles in Raqqa intensified, we fled ISIS’ clutches and turned ourselves over to the Syrian Democratic Forces,” she revealed.

She asserted that she does not know what lies in store for her or her children.

“After they interrogated me, Kurdish authorities asked me if I wanted to return to my country and I immediately said yes. I did not know whether I was going to return to my family, go to jail or go through trial because I had secretly traveled to Syria and stayed in areas controlled by ISIS, which is considered a terrorist group in my country,” Luciana added.

On Sunday, a Russian military jet arrived in Qamishli from the Russian base in Syria’s Homeimem. It carried on board Russian senator Ziad Mohammed al-Sabsabi, deputy chief of the foreign relations committee at the Russian Duma, and General Alexei Kim.

The jet was to receive families from former Soviet republics that had joined ISIS.

The Russian officials were received in Qamishli by members of the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) and the families were officially turned over to the Russians during a press conference.

Representative of the autonomous Kurdish authority Dr. Abdul Karim Omar told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Based on humanitarian principles and international treaties, we handed over a number of Russians who used to be members of ISIS.”

He stressed that investigations confirmed that these members were not involved in any fighting in Syria.

Based on their request to return home and without coming under any pressure, 13 women and 29 children were turned over to Russian authorities, he added.

This is the second time that Moscow asks for the return of Russians that had joined ISIS in Syria. Thirteen others were handed over to Russia during the summer, said Omar.

After the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seized Raqqa from ISIS on October 17, dozens of Russian family members of the group turned themselves over to the SDF.

They were originally taken to the Ain Issa camp some 50 kms northwest of Raqqa. They were then taken to Qamishli before being returned to Russia.

Sabsabi told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We have exerted great efforts in looking for the women and children of ISIS in order to return them to Russia.”

The children will be returned to their families and they will sit through psychological programs. Women, who do not face complaints or charges, will be released, he said.

“Others will face criminal trials in Russia and they will get their punishment,” he vowed.

Moscow has since July been working on returning Russians that have headed to Syria and Iraq where they joined ISIS. This was prompted by media reports that a number of women and children had turned themselves over to the SDF.

YPG official spokesman Nouri Mahmoud said that his forces saved these families after the Raqqa battles intensified in October.

“We dealt with them humanely and according to principles of human rights and local laws,” he continued.

“We asked them to travel back to their country and we contacted Russian officials to hand them over officially,” he said.

As she headed to the Qamishli airport to return home, Luciana sadly remarked: “Three years were enough. They felt more like 30 years. I miss by mother, father and relatives very much. I just want to go back to my room and my bed and raise my children away from the war.”

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Features

New Year Brings New Mayor for New York City

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani listens to a reporter's question during a press conference in New York City, US, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani listens to a reporter's question during a press conference in New York City, US, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
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New Year Brings New Mayor for New York City

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani listens to a reporter's question during a press conference in New York City, US, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani listens to a reporter's question during a press conference in New York City, US, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)

New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to become the US city's first Muslim mayor, and the youthful optimism of his Democratic Socialist platform will be put to the test as he takes office Thursday for a four-year term that faces high expectations.

- Festive swearing in -

Just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, New York Attorney General Letitia James -- friend to Mamdani, foe to President Donald Trump -- will swear in the new mayor. In a high-stakes tit-for-tat, James recently sued Trump, and he tried to have her indicted in return.

At midday, left-wing icon and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will preside over a ceremony outside City Hall.

At a neighborhood celebration, festivities will echo "one of his core messages... that this is a great city, and we like living here," said Lincoln Mitchell, a Columbia University political science professor.

- Policy agenda -

The mayor-elect, an avowed socialist, campaigned on addressing the prohibitive cost of living in the metropolis of 8.5 million.

One of his key proposals is freezing rent on more than a million apartments, but it's unclear if the city board that handles rent control -- packed with appointees of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams -- will be supportive.

Details of Mamdani's other campaign promises -- the construction of 200,000 units of affordable housing, universal access to childcare, publicly owned supermarkets and free buses -- have yet to be spelled out.

But Mamdani has one ace in his pocket: an excellent relationship with New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who approves measures like the tax hikes he seeks.

Once an election is over, "symbolism only goes so far with voters. Results begin to matter a whole lot more," New York University lecturer John Kane said.

- Opposition to Trump -

Despite expectations to the contrary, the late November Oval Office meeting between Trump and Mamdani was cordial and calm.

Mamdani "wisely sought a point of common ground with Trump: wanting to make New York City a better place to live," Kane said.

Trump can "be surprisingly gregarious toward those that he perceives to have little leverage over," Kane added.

Federal immigration officers are increasingly active in New York, which could become a flashpoint.

- Reassuring the public -

At 34, Mamdani is one of New York's youngest mayors and his political resume is short -- he's held office once previously, as a local representative in the State Assembly.

To compensate, he is surrounding himself with seasoned aides, recruited from past mayor's offices and former president Joe Biden's administration.

Mamdani has also already opened dialogue with business leaders, some of whom predicted a massive exodus of wealthy New Yorkers if he won. Real estate sector leaders debunked those claims in recent weeks.

As a defender of Palestinian rights, the mayor -- Muslim and of Indian origin -- will also have to reassure the Jewish community of his inclusive leadership style.

Recently, one of his hires resigned after it was revealed she had posted antisemitic tweets years ago.

- 'Cultural figure' -

"The mayor of New York is always a cultural figure," Mitchell said.

Mamdani has already captured some of his generation's cultural trappings with his brief forays into rap music, improv classes in Manhattan, and wearing what the New York Times called "the quintessential entry-level suit for a 30-something striving to be taken seriously."

New Yorkers have also noted his enthusiastic support of his wife, Syrian-born artist Rama Duwaji, with approval.

Her Instagram account has gained more than a million followers since November, according to Social Blade statistics.

And on the cover of The Cut, New York magazine's revered fashion and culture publication, she recently marked her own path -- the hallmark of every young generation of city dwellers striving to make it there.

"At the end of the day, I'm not a politician. I'm here to be a support system for Z and to use the role in the best way that I can as an artist," she said.

Features

'Shivering from Cold and Fear': Winter Rains Batter Displaced Gazans

Displaced Palestinians walk past a large pool of standing water in Gaza City. Heavy winter rains have have made an already precarious life worse for displaced Gazans © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Displaced Palestinians walk past a large pool of standing water in Gaza City. Heavy winter rains have have made an already precarious life worse for displaced Gazans © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
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'Shivering from Cold and Fear': Winter Rains Batter Displaced Gazans

Displaced Palestinians walk past a large pool of standing water in Gaza City. Heavy winter rains have have made an already precarious life worse for displaced Gazans © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Displaced Palestinians walk past a large pool of standing water in Gaza City. Heavy winter rains have have made an already precarious life worse for displaced Gazans © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP

It only took a matter of minutes after the heavy overnight rain first began to fall for Jamil al-Sharafi's tent in southern Gaza to flood, drenching his food and leaving his blankets sopping wet.

The winter rains have made an already precarious life worse for people like Sharafi, who is among the hundreds of thousands in the Palestinian territory displaced by the war, many of whom now survive on aid provided by humanitarian organizations, AFP reported.

"My children are shivering from cold and fear... The tent was completely flooded within minutes," Sharafi, 47, said on Sunday.

"We lost our blankets, and all the food is soaked," added the father of six, who lives in a makeshift shelter with his children in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi.

A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in place since October 10, following two years of devastating fighting.

But despite the truce, Gazans still face a severe humanitarian crisis, and most of those displaced by the war have been left with little or nothing.

Families are crowded into camps of tents hastily erected from tarpaulins, which are often surrounded by mud and standing water when it rains.

"As an elderly woman, I cannot live in tents. Living in tents means we die from the cold in the rain and from the heat in the summer," said Umm Rami Bulbul.

"We don't want reconstruction right now, just provide us and our children with mobile homes."

Nighttime temperatures in Gaza have ranged between eight and 12 degrees Celsius in recent days.

- Insufficient aid -

Nearly 80 percent of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to United Nations data.

And about 1.5 million of Gaza's 2.2 million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.

Of more than 300,000 tents requested to shelter displaced people, "we have received only 60,000", Shawa told AFP, pointing to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory.

The UN refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said the harsh weather had compounded the misery of Gazans.

"People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents & among ruins," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.

"There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required."

COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said in mid-December that "close to 310,000 tents and tarpaulins entered the Gaza Strip recently" as part of an increase in aid under the ceasefire.

Earlier this month, Gaza experienced a similar spell of heavy rain and cold.

The weather caused at least 18 deaths due to the collapse of war-damaged buildings or exposure to cold, according to Gaza's civil defense agency, which operates under Hamas authority.

On December 18, the UN's humanitarian office said that 17 buildings collapsed during the storm, while 42,000 tents and makeshift shelters were fully or partially damaged.

"Look at the state of my children and the tent," said Samia Abu Jabba.

"I sleep in the cold, and water floods us and my children's clothes. I have no clothes for them to wear. They are freezing," she said.

"What did the people of Gaza and their children do to deserve this?"

Features

What Lies Ahead for Ukraine’s Contested Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant?

A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant before the arrival of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 15, 2023. (Reuters)
A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant before the arrival of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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What Lies Ahead for Ukraine’s Contested Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant?

A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant before the arrival of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 15, 2023. (Reuters)
A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant before the arrival of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, June 15, 2023. (Reuters)

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, is one of the main sticking points in US President Donald Trump's peace plan to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine. The issue is one of 20 points laid out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a framework peace proposal.

Here are some of the issues regarding the facility:

WHAT ROLE MAY THE US PLAY?

Russia took control of the plant in March 2022 and announced plans to connect it to its power grid. Almost all countries consider that it belongs to Ukraine but Russia says it is owned by Russia and a unit of Russia's state-owned Rosatom nuclear corporation runs the plant.

Zelenskiy stated at the end of December that the US side had proposed joint trilateral operation of the nuclear power plant with an American chief manager.

Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian proposal envisages Ukrainian-American use of the plant, with the US itself determining how to use 50% of the energy produced.

Russia has considered joint Russian-US use of the plant, according to the Kommersant newspaper.

WHAT IS ITS CURRENT STATUS?

The plant is located in Enerhodar on the banks ‌of the Dnipro River and ‌the Kakhovka Reservoir, 550 km (342 miles) southeast of the capital Kyiv.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has ‌six ⁠Soviet-designed reactors. They were ‌all built in the 1980s, although the sixth only came online in the mid-1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has a total capacity of 5.7 gigawatts, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) database.

Four of the six reactors no longer use Russian nuclear fuel, having switched to fuel produced by then-US nuclear equipment supplier Westinghouse.

After Russia took control of the station, it shut down five of its six reactors and the last reactor ceased to produce electricity in September 2022. Rosatom said in 2025 that it was ready to return the US fuel to the United States.

According to the Russian management of the plant, all six reactors are in "cold shutdown."

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of striking the nuclear plant and of severing power lines to the plant.

The plant's equipment is powered by ⁠electricity supplied from Ukraine. Over the past four years these supplies have been interrupted at least eleven times due to breaks in power lines, forcing the plant to switch to emergency diesel generators.

Emergency generators ‌on site can supply electricity to keep the reactors cool if external power lines are cut.

IAEA ‍Director General Rafael Grossi says that fighting a war around a nuclear ‍plant has put nuclear safety and security in constant jeopardy.

WHY DOES RUSSIA WANT ZAPORIZHZHIA PLANT?

Russia has been preparing to restart the station but ‍says that doing so will depend on the situation in the area. Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev has not ruled out the supply of electricity produced there to parts of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center in Kyiv, said Moscow intended to use the plant to cover a significant energy deficit in Russia's south.

"That's why they are fighting so hard for this station," he said.

In December 2025, Russia's Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision issued a license for the operation of reactor No. 1, a key step towards restarting the reactor.

Ukraine's energy ministry called the move illegal and irresponsible, risking a nuclear accident.

WHY DOES UKRAINE NEED THE PLANT?

Russia has been pummeling Ukraine's energy infrastructure for months and some areas have had blackouts during winter.

In recent ⁠months, Russia has sharply increased both the scale and intensity of its attacks on Ukraine's energy sector, plunging entire regions into darkness.

Analysts say Ukraine's generation capacity deficit is about 4 gigawatts, or the equivalent of four Zaporizhzhia reactors.

Kharchenko says it would take Ukraine five to seven years to build the generating capacity to compensate for the loss of the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Kharchenko said that if Kyiv regained control of the plant, it would take at least two to three years to understand what condition it was in and another three years to restore the equipment and return it to full operations.

Both Ukrainian state nuclear operator Energoatom and Kharchenko said that Ukraine did not know the real condition of the nuclear power plant today.

WHAT ABOUT COOLING FUEL AT THE PLANT?

In the long term, there is the unresolved problem of the lack of water resources to cool the reactors after the vast Kakhovka hydro-electric dam was blown up in 2023, destroying the reservoir that supplied water to the plant.

Besides the reactors, there are also spent fuel pools at each reactor site used to cool down used nuclear fuel. Without water supply to the pools, the water evaporates and the temperatures increase, risking fire.

An emission of hydrogen from a spent fuel pool caused an explosion in Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in ‌2011.

Energoatom said the level of the Zaporizhzhia power plant cooling pond had dropped by more than 15%, or 3 meters, since the destruction of the dam, and continued to fall.

Ukrainian officials previously said the available water reserves may be sufficient to operate one or, at most, two nuclear reactors.