Anti-ISIS Coalition meets in the Netherlands, as it pursues ‘enduring defeat’ of ISIS

Senior diplomats from the 85-member anti-ISIS coalition met in the Netherlands, where they affirmed their continued commitment to fighting the terrorist group.
Political Directors from the Small Group of the Anti-ISIS Coalition meet in The Hague (Photo: Wopke Hoekstra/Twitter)
Political Directors from the Small Group of the Anti-ISIS Coalition meet in The Hague (Photo: Wopke Hoekstra/Twitter)

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) Senior diplomats from the 85-member anti-ISIS coalition met Wednesday in the Netherlands, where they affirmed their continued commitment to fighting the terrorist group.

The meeting of the Small Group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, held at the level of political directors, prominently included a discussion of how to address what they described, in a statement issued at the end of their meeting, as “the dire humanitarian and security needs” in detention centers in northeast Syria, including al-Hol camp.

The situation remains “an urgent concern in the region” and requires “sustainable long-term solutions,” they said. Repatriation of the detainees is the most obvious way to deal with the problem. However, concern about the problems that the detainees might create, if they were allowed to return to their home countries has been the major factor inhibiting their repatriation.

Thus, most countries have defaulted to the easiest path—to leave their citizens in detention in northeast Syria in the camps run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Coalition’s main partner in the fight against ISIS in Syria.

Notably, the majority of those detained in Syria are Iraqi nationals (the second largest group is Syrian.) Indeed, as The Washington Post reported in July, some 30,000 of al-Hol’s 55,000 inhabitants are Iraqi.

Thus, the Small Group paid special attention to Iraq. “Members discussed repatriation” of the detainees, “in particular, support to Iraq through the UN Global Framework for the Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Iraqi returnees,” as well as the “screening opportunities offered by INTERPOL to enhance background and security checks.”

Indeed, on the same day as the Small Group discussed this issue, several Iraqi families, detained at al-Hol, tried to flee the camp.

Read More: Iraqi families attempt to flee al-Hol camp

The US has spoken strongly against the Turkish attacks on the SDF that have followed the Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul—which Ankara chose to blame on the SDF, rather than the more obvious party, namely ISIS.

Read More: US: Turkish-backed group killed head of ISIS last month—throws new light on Istanbul bombing

One reason for the US concern is the difficulties that the Turkish attacks are creating for maintaining security in the ISIS detention centers.

Expansion of ISIS Threat

ISIS’s original home was in the Middle East. It was formed in Syria, in the midst of the civil war. In 2014, it burst across the border into Iraq, threatening both Erbil and Baghdad and obliging then-President Barack Obama to return US troops to Iraq.

As a senator, Obama had opposed the 2003 war that ousted Saddam Hussein. Hence, as president, Obama was keen to withdraw US forces—which he did at that end of 2011.

But that proved to be a mistake, which he was soon obliged to reverse. The Obama administration recognized ISIS’s sectarian appeal, and as a condition for US support against the terrorist group, Washington obliged Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step down.

In the time since then, however, ISIS has expanded, and it has become a serious challenge in other countries and continents. The Small Group also discussed the ISIS threat in Africa, as well as in Afghanistan, where the terrorist group calls itself “ISIS-Khorasan.”

Thus, “the Coalition continues to adapt its counterterrorism strategies in the context of an evolving threat landscape and the expansion of ISIS and other terrorist threats,” the Small Group said.

Nonetheless, it affirmed the Coalition’s “determination to achieve the enduring defeat of Daesh/ISIS wherever it operates and to holding ISIS terrorists accountable under criminal justice systems.”

The Small Group also announced that Saudi Arabia would host the next foreign ministers meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition.