WASHINGTON (AP) — What to do with hundreds of foreign ISIS fighters captured in Syria has become a critical and growing problem for the Trump administration as it prepares to pull troops out of the country. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said releasing the fighters, among them Europeans and some US citizens, would be “unacceptable” since they could simply rejoin the remnants of ISIS fighters in Syria or elsewhere. “This matters because SDF holds hundreds of ISIS fighters, including many European citizens, and they might go free if no solution is found,” said Bobby Chesney, a national security law expert at the University of Texas. There are fears that the US withdrawal will leave a door open for Turkey to assault the US-allied SDF fighters. The problem has been further complicated by conflicting reports of Trump’s timeline for recalling the 2,000 US troops from Syria.

Source: Egypt Independent January 09, 2019 13:41 UTC