(AFP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday pressed US allies to bring back citizens arrested overseas for joining the Islamic State group, warning they could not be held indefinitely in Syria.
Blinken made the appeal in Rome at a meeting of an 83-member coalition on defeating the extremist network, where he and the Italian hosts called for greater attention to the jihadist threat in Africa.
About 10,000 suspected Islamic State fighters are being held in northern Syria by Western-allied Kurdish fighters, according to US estimates.
“This situation is simply untenable. It just can’t persist indefinitely,” Blinken said.
“The United States continues to urge countries — including coalition partners — to repatriate, rehabilitate and, where applicable, prosecute their citizens,” he said.
