Kurdish-led authorities released hundreds of ISIS militants imprisoned in northern Syria on Thursday, as part of a general amnesty in the region controlled by the US-backed fighters.
Amina Omar, head of the Syrian National Council, said the 631 released ISIS members had “no blood on their hands" and repented having joined the terrorist group.
“They are people who can be reformed,” Omar said shortly before the men were released.
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A photographer holding his picture of the Arc du Triomphe (Triumph's Arch) taken on March 14, 2014 in front of the remains of the historic monument after it was destroyed by ISIS in October 2015 in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. AFP -
Iraqi men look at a crater left by a massive suicide car bomb attack carried out the previous day by ISIS in the predominantly Shiite town of Khan Bani Saad, 20km north of Baghdad, on July 18, 2015. AFP -
A Syrian man walks past a minaret destroyed following an alleged air strikes by Syrian government forces in the ISIS controlled Syrian city of Raqqa, on November 25, 2014. AFP -
Men, suspected of being affiliated with ISIS, gather in a prison cell in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on October 26, 2019. AFP -
A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands guard in a prison where men suspected to be affiliated with ISIS are jailed in northeast Syria in the city of Hasakeh on October 26, 2019. AFP -
A woman stands in front of a bullet riddled facade in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the former Syrian capital of ISIS, on August 21, 2019. AFP -
A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) monitors on Surveillance screens, prisoners who are accused of being affiliated with ISIS, at a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on October 26, 2019. AFP -
A general view shows blankets hanging across the road for protection from sniper fire in the Hamidiyeh neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as local popular committee fighters, who support the Syrian government forces, try to defend the traditionally Christian district on the third day of intense battles with ISIS on April 9, 2015. AFP -
An undated image, which appears to be a screenshot from a video and which was published by ISIS in the Homs province (Welayat Homs) on August 25, 2015, allegedly shows smoke billowing from the Baal Shamin temple in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra. AFP -
The house of local farmer Hamad al-Ibrahim is seen destroyed in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz on March 13, 2020, a year after the fall of ISIS. AFP -
A picture taken on January 13, 2020 during a press tour organised by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of ISIS, shows a view of the damage at Ain al-Asad military airbase housing US and other foreign troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar. AFP -
A bridge that was destroyed by ISIS after they took control of the river crossing and rebuilt the bridge as US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters advance into ISIS's bastion of Manbij, in northern Syria, on June 23, 2016. AFP -
Iraqis look at the damage at aftermath scene of a mortar and bombing attack on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in the Balad area, located 70km (around 45 miles) north of Baghdad, on July 8, 2016. AFP -
Part of the remains of Arch of Triumph, also called the Monumental Arch of Palmyra, that was destroyed by ISIS in October 2015 in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, after government troops recaptured the UNESCO world heritage site. AFP -
Iraqi Kurdish and Turkmen Shiite forces sit in the northern Iraqi town of Bashir after they recaptured the town from ISIS on May 1, 2016. AFP
The Syrian Democratic Council said another 253 prisoners will have their terms cut in half.
It said the amnesty and the release followed requests by tribal leaders in north-eastern and eastern Syria.
Kurdish authorities operate more than two dozen detention centres across north-eastern Syria, holding about 10,000 ISIS fighters.
Among them are about 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them, including about 800 Europeans.
ISIS, which at the height of its power in 2014 controlled a third of both Iraq and Syria, lost its last sliver of land last year when the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces captured the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.
Since then the extremists have gone underground, carrying out hit-and-run attacks, mostly against Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led fighters.
This month, the regional authority said it would allow Syrian citizens to leave a sprawling camp that houses tens of thousands of women and children, many of them linked to ISIS.
Most of the detainees at Al Hol camp are Syrian and Iraqi women and children.
Another highly secured settlement within the camp is known as the Annex and is home to some 10,000 hard-line ISIS supporters from other countries.
The overpopulated camp is home to 65,000 people and has been a burden to the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish police in charge of security there.
Crime rates have been high inside the camp and some of the women have tried to escape.
Over the past 10 days dozens of families have left the camp.
