US-backed forces in Syria holding foreign Islamic State leaders

BEIRUT – US-backed militias in Syria have detained senior foreign Islamic State leaders in months of fighting for Raqqa, but it is not yet clear if they will be repatriated after facing trial, a spokesman said on Thursday.

"We have foreign emirs ... from all around the world," Talal Silo of the SDF said. "They were captured in special operations, and some of them turned themselves in to our forces."

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, declared victory this week in Raqqa, raising flags over the last Islamic State positions in the city.