Some of the US-backed Kurdish forces that had abandoned offensive operations against the Islamic State group in Syria have started returning to fight the jihadists, a US military official said Tuesday.
Kurdish members of the Syrian Democratic Forces — made up of Kurds, Syrian Arabs and other groups — had quit the Middle Euphrates River Valley in February after Turkey sent troops into Syria and launched an operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its Afrin enclave.
Turkey drove the group from the city on March 18.
The sudden departure of SDF fighters resulted in a slow-down in missions against IS in two remaining jihadist pockets along the river.
"We are encouraged by the return of some Syrian Democratic Force partners to the Middle Euphrates River Valley," said Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria.
"More combat power is returning to Euphrates River Valley to really turn it on to the ISIS elements," he added.
Dillon did not provide any details on the numbers of fighters returning.
The United States has since late 2014 led an international coalition to defeat IS in Syria and Iraq.
President Donald Trump recently threw America's commitment to Syria into doubt, especially after IS is defeated, when he said he wanted US forces out as soon as possible.
German woman who joined IS spared death sentence in Iraq
Berlin (AFP) April 24, 2018 –
An Iraqi court has lifted the death penalty handed to a German woman for belonging to the Islamic State jihadist group, sentencing her to life in prison instead, German foreign ministry sources said Tuesday.
The German woman of Moroccan origin, identified by German media as Lamia K., was condemned to death by hanging in January for providing "logistical support and helping the terrorist group to carry out crimes".
"The foreign ministry confirms that the death penalty against a German citizen in Iraq was commuted to a life sentence. The verdict is not yet final," a ministry source told AFP.
The woman continues to receive consular assistance from the German embassy in Baghdad, the source added.
Lamia K. left Germany with her two daughters in 2014 to join IS.
One of the daughters was killed while with the jihadists, a judicial source told AFP.
Lamia K. and her other daughter were arrested by Iraqi forces during the final stages of the battle to oust IS from its stronghold Mosul last July.
According to German news agency DPA, the commutation of her death penalty comes after Lamia K. appealed the verdict. An Iraqi life sentence usually translates to 20 years in jail, or 15 years with good behaviour, DPA added.
While hundreds of foreign suspected jihadists are being held by Iraqi authorities, Lamia K. was believed to have been the first European woman sentenced to death in the country for links to IS.
Her surviving daughter, in her early 20s, was given a one-year jail term for illegal entry into Iraq, Die Welt daily reported.
In February, a 17-year-old German teenager was sentenced to six years in prison for membership of IS and illegally crossing into Iraq.
Iraqi authorities announced the defeat of IS last December after a gruelling three-year battle.
