Syria to hand over 400 Uyghur fighters to China in major shift
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A Syrian diplomatic source said on Monday that Damascus intends to transfer hundreds of detained Uyghur fighters to China in coordination with Beijing, according to remarks reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The source told AFP that the government “intends to hand over 400 Uyghur fighters to China based on a Chinese request and in several batches.” The statement comes hours after Asaad al-Shibani, the foreign minister in Syria’s transitional government, met his Chinese counterpart in Beijing earlier in the day, according to official announcements. The two sides discussed security cooperation and efforts related to foreign militants detained in Syria.
Uyghur fighters in Syria are primarily affiliated with the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a jihadist organization whose members are ethnically Uyghur and originate from China’s Xinjiang region. TIP fighters began appearing in the Syrian conflict around mid-2014 and maintain a presence within armed factions operating in opposition-held parts of the northwest. The group had been linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other factions that controlled territory in Idlib and surrounding areas.
The transfer of Uyghur fighters to China—if implemented—would mark one of the largest such handovers to a foreign government.
The Syrian diplomatic source did not specify when the transfers would begin or whether additional groups of foreign fighters may be included in future arrangements. Chinese officials have not publicly commented on the details of the handover.