Syria hands over 146 IS militants' family members to Tajikistan

Zabidullah Zabidov (C), the ambassador of Tajikistan in Kuwait, talks with officials from the Asia Department of the Syrian foreign ministry and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Damascus, Syria, on July 25, 2022. Syria on Monday handed over a total of 146 Tajik nationals, who are family members of Islamic State (IS) militants, to their home country, according to the state news agency SANA. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Syria on Monday handed over a total of 146 Tajik nationals, who are family members of Islamic State (IS) militants, to their home country, according to the state news agency SANA.

Zabidullah Zabidov, the ambassador of Tajikistan in Kuwait, was in Syria on Monday to take the Tajik nationals, who had been accommodated in the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria.

The al-Hol camp, which is run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is known to be housing refugees, largely family members of foreign IS militants.

Zabidov said that the Tajik side had taken the necessary measures and arrangements for the return of Tajik citizens to their country.

He hailed the cooperation and support provided by the Syrian authorities to secure the transportation of children and women from the al-Hol camp to the Damascus International Airport, from where they would fly home, according to SANA.

The process took place in cooperation between the Syrian Foreign Ministry and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, SANA said. 

Zabidullah Zabidov (C), the ambassador of Tajikistan in Kuwait, meets with officials from the Asia Department of the Syrian foreign ministry and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Damascus, Syria, on July 25, 2022. Syria on Monday handed over a total of 146 Tajik nationals, who are family members of Islamic State (IS) militants, to their home country, according to the state news agency SANA. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)