A member of the Kurdish security forces stands guard as women and children fill water containers at the Al-Hol camp in Syria’s northeastern Al-Hasakah Governorate, on October 10, 2023. Credit: Delil Souleiman / AFP / Getty

On May 7, the United States repatriated 11 U.S. citizens, including five children, and one foreign-born minor. They had been detained in northeast Syria, where around 56,000 Syrian and foreign prisoners from the U.S.-led coalition’s decade-long war with the Islamic State remain held by U.S.-backed armed groups, including the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

This was the “largest single repatriation of U.S. citizens from northeast Syria to date,” according to the U.S. State Department, bringing the total number of U.S. citizens repatriated to 51. A reported 25 remain. One of the May 7 repatriated U.S. citizens was arrested upon her arrival at New York’s JFK airport and detained “under allegations that she had been trained in the use of firearms by militants in Syria.”

In addition, the U.S. also “facilitated the repatriation of six […]

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