Washington: States must take responsibility for their ISIS citizens

(Patria)- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington welcomes Iraq's initiative to detain Islamic State (ISIS) members in secure facilities in Iraq, while also calling on nations to repatriate their citizens to those facilities "to face justice," Reuters reported.

"The United States welcomes the initiative of the Government of Iraq to hold ISIS terrorists in secure facilities in Iraq, following recent instability in northeastern Syria," Rubio said in a statement. "Non-Iraqi terrorists will be temporarily held in Iraq. The United States calls on countries to take responsibility and repatriate their citizens to these facilities to face justice."

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said on Thursday it would initiate legal proceedings against ISIS detainees transferred from Syria, a day after the U.S. military announced its forces had moved 150 suspected militants from Syria to Iraq.

The U.S. military said its operation could eventually lead to the relocation of 7,000 prisoners from Syria.

The United Nations said it is taking over management of vast camps in Syria housing tens of thousands of women and children linked to the Islamic State, following the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces that had guarded them for years.

Iraq has begun receiving prisoners transferred from Syrian jails as Kurds withdraw, and has called on other countries to help accept them.
"This is a critical part of a long-term framework to prevent the resurgence of ISIS, consistent with proper burden-sharing among Coalition members," Rubio said on Thursday.

More than 10,000 Islamic State members, and tens of thousands of women and children linked to them, have been held for years in a dozen prisons and camps guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.
The SDF withdrew rapidly this week after clashes with Syrian government forces, raising concerns about security in prisons and humanitarian conditions in the camps.