US-backed forces in Syria Monday called for the establishment of an international court in the country to try suspected Daesh (the so-called IS) militants. The announcement came two days after the group's "caliphate" was declared defeated. "We call on the international community to establish a special international tribunal in northeast Syria to prosecute terrorists," the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement. In this way, "trials can be conducted fairly and in accordance with international law and human rights covenants and charters", it said. Syria's Kurds have previously warned that despite the demise of the Daesh proto-state, the thousands of foreign militants they have detained are a time-bomb the world urgently needs to defuse. According to the SDF, more than 5,000 militants — Syrian and foreign — have been captured since January. The Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria has warned it does not have capacity to detain so many people. But the home countries of suspected Daesh members are reluctant to take them back, due to potential security risks and the likely public backlash. "The Kurdish administration in northeast Syria has appealed to the international community to shoulder its responsibilities toward members of the terrorist organization detained by Kurdish security forces," read Monday's statement. "But unfortunately there was no response," it said. It called on the international community, particularly countries that have nationals detained, to support the establishment of an international tribunal, calling for legal and logistical cooperation and coordination. In the past, two international tribunals were created by the international community: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which tried genocide perpetrators in the African country, and the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which tried those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in wars that tore apart the Balkans in the 1990s. Meanwhile, a Kurdish spokesman said more than 9,000 foreigners, mostly children, linked to Daesh are present in a camp for the displaced in northeast Syria. The total number of foreigners in Al-Hol camp includes more than 6,500 children, Luqman Ahmi, official spokesman for the Kurdish authorities said. The figure was from a week ago, he said, before the Syrian Democratic Forces announced the end of "caliphate" in the eastern village of Baghouz. Tens of thousands of people fled the shrinking militant bastion over the past months. Suspected militants have been weeded out and detained. Women and children have, meanwhile, been trucked up to Kurdish-held camps for the displaced further north including Al-Hol. — Agencies
