Syria joining anti-IS coalition ‘marks a new chapter’ in global security, US envoy says

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S.-led international coalition to fight the Islamic State group has welcomed Syria in the fight against the extremists, saying that the priorities include the swift transfer of IS detainees to Iraq and third-country repatriation of families linked to IS held in two camps in Syria.

The State Department also welcomed a recent ceasefire that ended fighting between Syrian government forces and the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that were a main force in the fight against IS in Syria.

Representatives from Syria — which officially joined the global coalition against IS in November during a historic visit by Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s to Washington — attended a meeting on Monday of some officials from the 90-member coalition in Saudi Arabia.

“Regional solutions, shared responsibility. Syria’s participation in the D-ISIS Coalition meeting in Riyadh marks a new chapter in collective security,” Tom Barrack, the U.S. envoy to Syria, said in comments posted on X on Tuesday, using an acronym to refer to IS.

The U.S. military began transferring some of the about 9,000 IS detainees held in northeastern Syria last month to secure facilities in Iraq, following clashes between government forces and the SDF.

Monday’s State Department statement said coalition members “underscored their readiness to work closely with the Syrian government” and encouraged members to provide direct support to Syrian and Iraqi efforts.

It said that in addition to the transfer of detainees to Iraq, the participants reaffirmed their priorities that include “dignified reintegration” of families from the al-Hol and Roj camps, in northeast Syria, to their communities of origin. Syria’s government took over al-Hol in late January.

The camps house more than 25,000 mostly women and children linked to IS fighters, the vast majority of them from Syria and Iraq. The State Department called on dozens of countries other than Syria and Iraq to repatriate their citizens from al-Hol and Roj camps.

“Officials commended Iraq’s efforts to securely detain ISIS fighters” the statement said, adding that they also welcomed Syria’s assumption of responsibility for detention facilities and displacement camps housing IS fighters and their family members.

The SDF, which controls much of the detention facilities in northeast Syria, will merge into the national army as part of a deal reached with the central government last month.

Part of the deal reached last month, government delegations visited over the past days the Qamishli International Airport in the predominantly Kurdish city of Qamishli as well as some oil fields and the headquarters of a national oil company as SDF members withdraw from some of their positions.

Government forces also entered parts of the northeastern city of al-Hassakeh. In the near future, Syria’s central authorities are supposed to take over border crossings with neighboring Iraq and Turkey