Writing in The Diplomat, analysts Rueben Dass and Jasminder Singh said many IS fighters and their families, including Malaysians, ended up in detention camps run by Kurdish forces after the fall of the last IS stronghold in Baghouz, eastern Syria, in March 2019.

The detention camps included those in Roj and al-Hol in northeastern Syria.

They said there had been a decline in the number of individuals repatriated since 2019 as a result of the challenges faced by the Malaysian government in the repatriation process.

One of the most alarming challenges was the unwillingness of the individuals themselves to come home, they said.

“It is nearly impracticable for the authorities to identify and repatriate them where they do not bring themselves forward, as the exact whereabouts and details of the Malaysians in Syria are not known,” they wrote.

Rueben and Jasminder said Putrajaya also faced a number of diplomatic challenges.

“The al-Hol camp is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters that was founded in 2015 and had played a key role in fighting IS,” they said.

However, the SDF was not recognised by Putrajaya diplomatically.

“The political status of the SDF has posed a diplomatic hurdle in a few instances.”

They said finances were the third challenge in the repatriation process, noting that it cost around US$3,000 to repatriate a single person from Syria, according to Indonesian authorities.

“Despite the challenges, Malaysia and other countries must continue with efforts to repatriate their citizens as al-Hol remains a crucible of jihadi radicalisation,” they said.

“If these ex-militants are not formally and legally brought back home, they might re-enter Malaysia illegally and with false identification, without the knowledge of security forces.”