“So we have thousands ISIS fighters that we want Europe to take. And let’s see if they take them,” said Trump to a group of reporters outside the White House before boarding the presidential helicopter Marine One. “And if they don’t take them, we’ll probably have to release them to Europe.”
Trump’s remarks refer to the roughly 2,000 foreign suspected ISIS fighters and members from Western countries being held in Syria by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is a US-backed coalition of militaries fighting ISIS that is dominated by the Kurdish group the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Trump was asked about the ISIS fighters due to a criticism leveled against him during the July 31 Democratic Party presidential candidate debate. In the debate, which is part of the party’s primary election to decide who will challenge Trump in the 2020 general presidential election, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard accused Trump of supporting Al-Qaeda, the group that masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.
“But over years now, not only have we not gone after Al-Qaeda, who’s stronger today than they were in 9/11, our president is supporting Al-Qaeda," she said.
Gabbard, who served in the military in Iraq before entering Congress, is a frequent critic of Trump’s Middle East policy, particularly his actions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and his close relationship with Saudi Arabia. Gabbard visited Syria in 2017 and met Assad.
Trump hit back at the Congresswoman’s remarks when asked about them by a reporter, saying that he is responsible for ISIS’ territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria.
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” said Trump. “If you remember, a short while ago, I defeated ISIS.”
Trump then went on to discuss Europe taking back ISIS members.
This is not the first time Trump has hit Europe on the fighters. Trump also criticized European states for not taking back the fighters in April and threatened to release them in February.
There are currently around 70,000 ISIS members being held in the al-Hol camp in SDF-controlled Syria. Authorities there are struggling to keep them amidst stabbings against guards, the slow repatriation process, and the costs of maintaining the camp.
Most of the camp inhabitants are women and children, and authorities there warn the children could grow up to become terrorists if they are not rehabilitated. Many of those in the camp still share IS’ ideology and even fly its infamous black flag.
The camp is in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, where the SDF is the official military force. The area is not a sovereign state and has mixed relations with the Syrian government. The autonomous region, referred to by Kurds as Rojava, has limited mechanisms to prosecute or rehabilitate the fighters themselves, and many are not from Syria at all.
