U.S. and Britain are divided over what to do with captured ISIS fighters

Paul Sonne, Devlin Barrett and Ellen Nakashim, Washington Post; from; original article contains links.

Image from, under the title: Who were the Islamic State group 'Beatles' cell?

Excerpt:

A dispute between the United States and Britain over what to do with Islamic State foreign fighters captured on the battlefield is demonstrating the complexities arising in the aftermath of a years-long war to oust the extremist group from its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The latest flash point involves two accused Islamic State militants who have been held by coalition-backed forces in Syria since mid-January.

The men grew up in Britain and fled to Syria to join a four-person militant cell that became known as the Beatles, owing to the British accents of its members. The cell rose to infamy with the 2014 beheading of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. ...

The fate of the two Islamic State militants is part of a bigger dilemma for the United States and its coalition partners now that the extremist group has lost nearly all of the territory it once held. Hundreds of alleged ISIS fighters have been captured on the battlefield, but in many cases where they should face justice has not yet been determined.

U.S. diplomats and military officers are pushing Britain to accept the two men and bring them to justice — part of an effort by Washington to establish the principle that all foreign fighters captured on the battlefield should be returned to their countries of origin for trial. Both men are currently being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated group and main U.S. partner in Syria.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that a final agreement with Britain had not yet been reached. He called on countries to take responsibility for fighters who joined the Islamic State from their soil.

“How they carry out that responsibility, there’s a dozen different diplomatic, legal or whatever ways, I suppose,” Mattis said during a trip to Europe. “But the bottom line is, we don’t want them going back on the street.”

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson told the British newspaper the Sun that the men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexandra Kotey, turned their back on Britain and should never set foot in the country again.

Apart from leaving British territory to join the Islamic State, the Beatles cell has also been implicated in the detention and execution of British citizens, including aid worker David Haines.

The State Department has said that if Britain refuses to accept the Islamic State fighters, they could end up imprisoned at the military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which President Trump has promised to keep open indefinitely.

“We are working with coalition partners to determine what to do with ISIS fighters held by the SDF,” said Steven Goldstein, the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. “One possibility is that former British citizens return to the U.K. Another option that we’re looking at is to place these terrorist fighters in Guantanamo Bay.” ...