The war in Syria took a new turn when dozens of Islamic State group jihadists emerged from tunnels and surrendered to US-backed forces in eastern Syria on Sunday, March 24. This came a day after their ‘caliphate’ or the areas ruled by them, was defeated.
Syria’s Kurds have also warned that even though the proto-state has been captured, there could be thousands of jihadists, who could still pose to be dangerous for the world.
Reports suggest that many people (mostly men), came out of the jihadist encampment in the village of Baghouz. They were to board the pickup trucks at the Iraqi border.
Kurdish spokesman Jiaker Amed said, “They are IS fighters who came out of tunnels and surrendered today.” Though he also mentioned that some more could still be hiding inside the tunnels.
Even as many world leaders cane forward and welcomed this announcement, the threat that IS still poses cannot be ruled out.
The IS sleeper cells also posed as an area of concern that could get activated by them.
Even as last reports came in, the SDF is continuing its operations to track the remaining jihadists in the area.
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“This back-clearance operation will be deliberate and thorough and help ensure the long-term security for the area,” the US-led coalition backing the SDF wrote on Twitter.
According to data from SDF, 66,000 people left the last IS pocket since January 2019, including 5,000 jihadists and 24,000 of their relatives. From time to time, the forces have let people evacuate the area. They have been continuing their search for potential jihadists or their families.
Even as Syria wants to hand the captured IS members back to their respective countries, the home countries are hesitant to take them back. “There has to be coordination between us and the international community to address this danger,” Abdel Karim Omar said.
“There are thousands of children who have been raised according to IS ideology,” he added.
“If these children are not re-educated and re-integrated in their societies of origin, they are potential future terrorists.”