The Biden administration has repatriated the families of 10 American citizens who were stranded for years in desert camps and camps in Syria run by Kurdish-led militias that fought the Islamic State group, officials said.
The government also brought two half-brothers to the United States, but only one of them, said to be 7 years old, is an American citizen. The resettlement of the other boy, said to be 9 years old, is the first time the United States has accepted a non-American from a combat zone.
The government announced the transfers early Tuesday morning in a statement from Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who said there was a “complex repatriation and resettlement” involving 11 Americans, five of whom are minors. said. An elderly non-U.S. citizen brother of one of the U.S. citizen minors. ”
“This is the largest single repatriation of U.S. citizens from northeastern Syria to date,” he added.
The identities of the 12 players were not disclosed in the statement announcing the transfer. But two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details said the 10 people included a woman named Brandi Salman and her nine American-born children, ranging in age from 6 to about 6 years old. This is the same family that the New York Times reported on in September. Until about 25.
The other two are the sons of a man named Abdelhamid Almadium, who was repatriated in 2020 and pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism charges, one is a biological son and the other is an adopted child, officials said. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported this month that his two young sons have been found and will soon arrive in Minnesota to be raised by his parents.
The fallout from the fall of the ISIS caliphate – which continues to carry out terrorist attacks even after losing control of its former territory – has caused serious problems in northeastern Syria, where tens of thousands of people are effectively detained. It remains as it is. Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia.
Approximately 45,000 people live in the camps, mostly women and children. Officials said they included about 17,000 Syrians, 18,750 Iraqis and about 9,000 “third-country nationals” from more than 60 countries. The militia also holds approximately 8,800 adult men in prison during the war.
Most of the adult men are suspected of having joined the Islamic State group, including some who traveled from the West to Syria and Iraq. Some brought their families.
The United States is encouraging other countries to take back their nationals, prosecuting them where necessary, and providing military assistance in some cases. Blinken said six Canadians, four Dutch nationals and one Finnish citizen were also extracted in the same operation that brought more than a dozen people to the United States and will be returned to their respective countries. There are eight children among them.
Since 2016, when the ISIS caliphate began to crumble, the United States has repatriated 51 Americans, 30 children and 21 adults, according to the State Department. This number includes 11 nationals brought in early Tuesday.
Many countries, particularly in Europe, are reluctant to allow their nationals, especially men, to return home for fear of posing a security threat. Some fear that under their legal system, imprisonment for joining Islamic State would only last a few years.
Even young children who are descendants of ISIS families are often blamed. As a result, many children grow up in harsh conditions and are thought to be at risk of radicalization in the camps.
The Times reported last fall that Salman's husband, who is from Turkey, took the family to ISIS territory in 2016 and is believed to have been killed later. Most of the families will now live with their mothers in New Hampshire, and the Department of Health and Human Services has worked with local social services officials to develop a plan to help the families integrate into society, officials said. .
However, it appears that one of Salman's daughters, who is now over 21 years old, will be prosecuted for alleged actions in Syria. The woman was arrested early Tuesday morning when a military plane carrying her group landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, officials said.
In 2022 and 2023, Human Rights Watch and UN investigators separately interviewed one of Salman's sons, now about 18 years old.
He then lived apart from the rest of his family in what Kurdish militias call a rehabilitation or deradicalization center for young people. He told investigators that in early 2020 he was arrested by guards as part of a controversial policy to remove boys who had reached puberty from the main displacement camps, Al-Hol and Rozi camps. said he took him there.
The boy told investigators that his father tricked his family into entering Syria, telling them he was going to a camp while in Turkey, and that he later crossed the border because he was not feeling well. , said they mostly kept their children indoors. I am afraid. The Times was unable to confirm details of that account.
UN investigators also said the boy expressed “great distress and anxiety” about not being able to meaningfully communicate with his mother and showed investigators drawings and drawings depicting them together. Ta. He also talked about hamburgers and lost rap music, she said.
Human Rights Watch also identified this teenager, whose face was hidden and who used a false name, in a video about children left behind in Syria after their parents took them there to join ISIS. Featured. In it he says: we have many children. No one wants to stay here, just like they grew up here doing nothing. That's what we all feel. ”
In the case of the two half-brothers, documents filed in court by the prosecution of their father, al-Madium, say that in 2015, while a university student, al-Madium was visiting Morocco with his family to join ISIS. It is said that he fled to
He eventually married the widow of a slain ISIS fighter and fought in the battle himself, suffering severe injuries including the loss of part of his arm. He surrendered to a Kurdish-led militia in March 2019 and was deported to the United States for prosecution in 2020.
One court filing also states that he was with “two young children” when he surrendered to the militia. However, officials revealed that only the boy was Al Madium's biological son. Mr al-Madium appears to have adopted another boy when he married his widowed mother, who herself was later murdered.
There are many challenges when transferring human resources. Kurdish militias do not have comprehensive and accurate records on all the people they detain, and many children are mixed parents, further complicating efforts to place them in countries.
Ian Moss, the State Department's deputy coordinator for counterterrorism, said in an interview that by taking in the 9-year-old boy, who is not a U.S. citizen but has ties to the United States through his brother, the U.S. is “making a huge difference.” Lead by example.
“In order to reintegrate into society, it is important not to tear families apart,” he says. “And as we continue to work on solving this problem, we need to think creatively about how to preserve the family unit. This means that individuals need to be offered resettlement.”
There has been some movement in recent years. In 2022, nearly 3,000 displaced persons were repatriated, or in the case of Syrians, returned to their home communities within the country, compared to the number who left paramilitary protection between 2019 and 2021. exceeded the total. In 2023, more than 5,400 people were repatriated or returned to their areas of origin.
“As governments work to repatriate their nationals, we ask for consideration and flexibility to preserve the family unit as much as possible,” Blinken said.
He added: “The only lasting solution to the humanitarian and security crisis in northeastern Syria's displaced persons camps and detention centers is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate and, if necessary, “It is to ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” he added.