Syrian Kurdish Authorities Hand over British Woman, 3 Children Linked to ISIS to UK Delegation

A British woman and three children linked to the extremist ISIS group in Syria were handed over to a UK delegation that visited the region this week, Syrian Kurdish-led authorities said Friday. (AFP)
A British woman and three children linked to the extremist ISIS group in Syria were handed over to a UK delegation that visited the region this week, Syrian Kurdish-led authorities said Friday. (AFP)
TT

Syrian Kurdish Authorities Hand over British Woman, 3 Children Linked to ISIS to UK Delegation

A British woman and three children linked to the extremist ISIS group in Syria were handed over to a UK delegation that visited the region this week, Syrian Kurdish-led authorities said Friday. (AFP)
A British woman and three children linked to the extremist ISIS group in Syria were handed over to a UK delegation that visited the region this week, Syrian Kurdish-led authorities said Friday. (AFP)

A British woman and three children linked to the extremist ISIS group in Syria were handed over to a UK delegation that visited the region this week, Syrian Kurdish-led authorities said Friday.

The handover, which took place on Wednesday, is the latest in a push to repatriate people from al-Hol and Roj camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands, mostly wives and children of ISIS militants but also supporters of the extremist group.

The Kurdish authorities did not release the names of the four, saying only they were held at Roj camp before the handover.

According to a statement, a delegation led by Britain’s Special Representative for Syria Ann Snow visited northeastern Syria, where they discussed with the Kurdish authorities the ongoing threat that ISIS still poses, five years after the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled in large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Elham Ahmad, the co-chair for foreign relations in the regional Syrian Kurdish administration, said “radical solutions should be found for the problem of terrorism.”

Thousands of ISIS members and suspects held in jails in northeast Syria should face justice, she added.

In 2014, ISIS declared a so-called state 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.

Over the past five years about 30,000 people, mostly Iraqis and Syrians, have left al-Hol camp and been repatriated. More than 2,000 are also held in Roj camp.

Earlier this month, the United States said it repatriated 11 of its citizens from al-Hol and Roj camps, the largest group to date that Washington has taken out of the two sprawling camps.

Earlier in May, more than 200 Syrians were taken from al-Hol to their hometowns in Syria’s eastern province that borders Iraq.



Kremlin: Putin Not Ruling Out Talks with Ukraine, but Wants Guarantees

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
TT

Kremlin: Putin Not Ruling Out Talks with Ukraine, but Wants Guarantees

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ruling out talks with Ukraine, but guarantees will be needed to ensure the credibility of any negotiations, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Sunday.

More than 90 countries took part in a two-day event at the Buergenstock resort in central Switzerland aimed at uniting global opinion on how to end Moscow's 27-month-old invasion.
Russia was not invited to those talks.

Kyiv's positions have been taken into consideration in the final communique for the summit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sunday.

"The text is balanced, all of our principled positions on which Ukraine had insisted have been considered," he told reporters.

Kuleba also hinted that Russia could be involved in a future summit but dismissed Putin's demand on Friday that Kyiv cede four regions of Ukraine that Russia has occupied and drop its goal of joining NATO.