The State Department said on Tuesday that the United States repatriated a U.S. citizen minor from a displaced persons camp in northeast Syria for unification with the child’s family. [Getty]
An American citizen child has been repatriated from a camp in northeast Syria for “unification” with family, the US State Department said Tuesday.
The child was described as “unaccompanied” in a State Department statement, which did not identify the camp the minor had been retrieved from, their age, or what family they would be unified with.
Since the defeat of the IS group, Kurdish forces have controlled several camps and prisons in northeastern Syria, where tens of thousands of people displaced by conflict or suspected of links to the organization live.
The release has “given this child, who has known nothing of life outside of the camps, a future free from the influence and dangers of ISIS terrorism,” the State Department said.
“Approximately 30,000 individuals from more than 70 countries remain in two displaced person camps in northeast Syria, the majority of whom are children under the age of 12; they deserve a chance at life outside the camps,” the statement said.
The State Department called on other countries to “repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for their nationals. The same goes for former ISIS fighters held in detention centers in northeast Syria.”
For years, the Kurds have called for countries to repatriate their nationals, but most have only allowed limited returns, citing security concerns.
Kurdish leaders announced in February that they would work to empty the camps of displaced Syrians and Iraqis by the end of 2025, in coordination with the United Nations.
Syria is led by a coalition of rebels who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December, taking power after more than 13 years of devastating civil war.
