Uzbekistan repatriates 92 women and children with ties to ISIS from Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Ninety-two women and children who belong to families with alleged ties to ISIS in Syria were handed over to a government delegation from Uzbekistan, a Syrian Kurdish official said on Friday.

Dr. Abdulkarim Omar, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Self Administration in Northern and Eastern Syria, said the 24 women and 68 children were met by an official delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.

The delegation, headed by Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Bahramjan Alayov, arrived at the headquarters of the External Relations Department in the city of Qamishlo on April 28, the local Hawar News Agency reported.

Local Kurdish-led civilian authorities in northern Syria have called on foreign states to take back wives and children of ISIS fighters. So far, a number of foreign states have repatriated foreign women and children with links to ISIS.

The Foreign Affairs commission of the administration prefers foreign diplomats to meet their nationals after signing documents at their headquarters in Qamishlo.

According to Human Rights Watch, only 25 countries are known to have repatriated any nationals from northeast Syria. Most have brought home or helped return only orphans or young children, in some cases without their mothers.

A large number of foreign families thought to be tied to ISIS remain in displacement camps run by the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria. According to the United Nations, there are about 62,000 people still in al-Hol camp outside Hasakah, including tens of thousands of women affiliated with ISIS and their children.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly