Turkey is beginning to send home foreign ISIS fighters captured in Syria.

An SDF fighter monitors captured ISIS fighters in Syria. BBC/AFP/Getty.

Turkey has begun sending home foreign ISIS fighters captured in Syria to their home countries. BBC. One fighter was an American and was sent to the United States. The other 20 were from Ireland, Germany, France and Denmark. 2500 ISIS prisoners are still in Turkey's custody and they have already deported 7600 people to 102 different countries. It's unclear where the ISIS fighters come from, though most of them were likely held by the Kurds and were taken into custody after Turkey invaded northern Syria. The fate of these foreign fighters has been controversial as many European countries do not want these fighters back and have gone so far as to revoke their citizenship. 

My Comment:

One of the more important stories that isn't getting too much coverage. The fate of former ISIS fighters has been the major open question after the defeat of the Caliphate. Many countries don't want these people back, and for good reason. They have all committed horrible crimes and bear, at the very least, collective responsibility for ISIS's worst atrocities. 

They also do not want these people in their prisons. ISIS and prisons have a long history and the terror group was founded in an Iraqi prison. The fear is that by housing these terrorists in their home countries justice system they could radicalize other prisoners or even cause violence and unrest in the prisons. 

Another fear is that these people could be responsible for terror attacks. They would have to be put on trial and there is a possibility that they could flee while they are on bail or could somehow not be convicted. If that happens they could potentially commit terror attacks. ISIS wives and children are especially prone to this as they didn't take as active role, but still bought into ISIS beliefs. 

Of course the other problem is that the security situation in these Syrian prisons aren't good. These prisoners could always escape and try to reform ISIS. They would face an uphill battle but it's still a threat. They could also escape and go underground and then launch attacks globally. 

There isn't a perfect solution here. These prisoners can't really be left in northern Syria but nobody wants them to come back home. They are a threat wherever they are and no solution really helps. If we were more like ISIS I would say that we should just execute them but that's not how we do things. My guess is that the vast majority of these foreign fighters will be sent home, prosecuted and then thrown in prison for the rest of their lives.