Syria to hand over Uyghur jihadist fighters to China: sources

Syria intends to hand over jihadist fighters from China's Uyghur minority to Beijing, two sources told AFP on Monday, but the foreign ministry in Damascus denied the report.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani was on his first visit to China on Monday.

Since toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad nearly a year ago, Syria's new Islamist authorities have sought to break with their jihadist past and rebuild the country's diplomatic presence after years of international isolation.

Jihadists from China's Uyghur Muslim minority went to Syria after war erupted in 2011, mostly as part of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), which was active in Idlib province and was allied with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamists who led the of

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