The Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES) handed over 30 ISIS women and 64 children to a delegation from Kyrgyzstan on Monday. The delegation, including Bakit Kadyrov, the representative of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the AANES Department of Foreign Affairs in Qamishlo to sign the handover protocol.

The meeting was attended by the deputy co-chair of the Department, Rubel Baho, and AANES representatives, Khaled Ibrahim and Gulistan Ali.

During the meeting, both sides discussed relations between AANES and the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, as well as the ongoing fight against the Islamic State in Northern and Eastern Syria. "The AANES has decided to try ISIS members of foreign nationality and we ask for support and assistance from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the international community to conduct fair and transparent trials," said Rubel Baho.

ISIS mercenaries in Northern and Eastern Syria

Since the dismantling of the territorial rule of ISIS in March 2019, the Autonomous Administration in Northern and Eastern Syria has been confronted with more than 10,000 imprisoned ISIS mercenaries from around sixty different countries. Around 2,000 of them come from Western countries. In addition, the Autonomous Administration is forced to house tens of thousands of family members, some of whom are very indoctrinated. More than 50,000 people are currently housed in the Hol camp near Hesekê. Most are from Syria and Iraq, others from Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa and the Middle and Far East. About half are minors, and many of the children are under twelve years old and are indoctrinated in Islamist ideology.