The United States urged other countries Monday to bring home hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers captured in Syria, a delicate issue for allies such as France as Washington withdraws troops. After allies grappled for weeks on what to do with the extremists left in Syria, the United States came down clearly on the side of repatriation.

The United States said that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - which played a major role in crushing the Islamic State group and has warned that it may not be able to guard its jails once US troops leave - had been holding the jihadists "securely and humanely."

"The United States calls upon other nations to repatriate and prosecute their citizens detained by the SDF and commends the continued efforts of the SDF to return these foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019