Donald Trump demands Britain and Europe allies ‘take back’ 800 captured ISIS fighters and lock them up – or he’ll release them
Trump threatened to release the terrorists if Britain, France and Germany do not 'step up' and put the ISIS prisoners on trial in their countries
DONALD Trump has demanded that Britain and other European allies should "take back" more than 800 ISIS fighters captured in Syria — or he will release them.
The US President warned the ISIS extremists could "permeate Europe" and called on Britain, France and Germany to put the prisoners on trial in their countries.
He tweeted: "The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial.
“The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them.
"The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go.
"We do so much, and spend so much — Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100 per cent Caliphate victory!"
ISIS fighters are now said to be cornered to an area of no larger than 700 square metres.
Trump have been backed up by senior US officials who told the Britain's refusal to take back their homegrown terrorists was a policy of "leave them at large and hope they don't find a way back".
The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial
US President Donald Trump
The stark warning come amid a ministerial row over the repatriation of foreign fighters and their relations to the UK — provoked by the case of 19-year-old Shamima Begum.
Pregnant Begum ran away to ISIS-controlled Syria but now wants to return to the UK to bring up her baby now that the death cult is collapsing.
But Home Secretary Sajid Javid has warned he "will not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join ISIS.
Yet Justice Secretary David Gauke told Sky News "we can't make people stateless".
FINAL PUSH
Ciya Furat, a commander with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told reporters on Saturday: "We will very soon bring good news to the whole world."
The capture of the last pocket still held by ISIS fighters in Baghouz would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to stop the extremist group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq.
At the height of the group’s power in 2014, the so-called "caliphate" controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.
However, the end of the terror group's territorial control would not mean an end to the group, with Mr Furat saying the SDF would continue the fight against sleeper cells.
It comes 11 days after Trump claimed that will be “100 per cent” defeated in Iraq and Syria “by next week”.
'VICTORY OVER VICTORY'
Speaking earlier this month, the US president predicted that the terror group will have lost its final strongholds within days following "victory over victory".
He insisted the US would not relent in fighting the "sick and demented" extremists despite his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.
Trump told representatives of a 79-member, US-led coalition fighting ISIS that the militants held a tiny percentage of the vast territory they once claimed as their "caliphate".
He said: “Over the past two years we have retaken 20,000 square miles of land; we have seen victory after victory after victory.
“We have retaken both Mosul and Raqqa. We’ve eliminated more than 60 high-value ISIS leaders.
“Tens of thousands of ISIS fighters are gone. They’re gone.”
US officials have said that ISIS has lost 99.5 per cent of its territory and is holding on to fewer than 5sq km in Syria in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.
The capture of the last pocket still held by ISIS fighters in Baghouz would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist group's grip on territory in Syria and Iraq.
The so-called "caliphate", at height of the group's power in 2014, used to control nearly a third of the two countries.
But the end of the terror group's territorial control would not mean an end to the group, with a final fight on the cards against sleeper cells.
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