The return to their home countries of fighters from the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) from camps in Syria, where they are imprisoned, may pose a danger, including to Europe, from where many of them were sent to the Middle East. This opinion was expressed Monday by Dmitry Sablin, a member of the State Duma from the United Russia faction and coordinator of the group for relations with the Syrian parliament, commenting to TASS on a related call by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The parliamentarian noted that the US Justice Department had earlier announced the return to the country of "all American citizens who fought in the ranks of IS and were imprisoned in Kurdish-controlled territory." "But in their case, they were only talking about 27 fighters. I think that in Europe, the call for the repatriation of terrorists will not cause much enthusiasm - there is no hurry to return the wives of fighters, not to mention their terrorist husbands," Sablin believes.
The deputy explained that "we are talking about a much larger number of fighters." "And if the Americans can count on geographical remoteness, breeding "their terrorists," the Europeans are well aware of the prospect of creating " sleeping cells" and continuing to fight for the caliphate in their countries," he noted. - "And they do have something to be afraid of".
Sablin noted that the United States, whose military is on Syrian territory illegally, not only "dictate to the world community what is acceptable and what is not," but also "do everything to ensure that the 'fighters' do not sit in camps." "They are actively working with this contingent, over-recruiting scum and training them to use them for their own purposes in Syria and other countries. They don't want to spend money on keeping the 'unpromising,' those who are not useful as fighters and saboteurs," he summarized.
Blinken at a ministerial meeting of the Washington-led coalition of countries against IS earlier called it unacceptable that some 10,000 former fighters of the group are still being held in camps under the control of Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). According to him, the international community must take measures to return the people held in these camps to their homeland in order to bring them to justice or rehabilitate them.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS