Inside Story

What should be done with foreign ISIL fighters captured in Syria?

US President Donald Trump tells European leaders to ‘take back’ more than 800 ISIL fighters held in Syria.

The end is near for ISIL’s so-called caliphate.

That’s according to US President Donald Trump, who says the armed group will be defeated in Syria within days.

US-backed Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces say they’ve cornered the last remaining fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in a village near the Iraqi border.

In a tweet, Trump urged Europe to “take back” foreign fighters and put them on trial.

But European countries appear reluctant to take back their nationals who left to join ISIL, with one case particularly dividing opinion in the United Kingdom.

So, what should be done with ISIL fighters captured in Syria?

 

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Haras Rafiq – Chief executive of Quilliam think-tank 

Hanif Qadir – CEO of Active Change Foundation

Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi – ISIL researcher