[Al Jazeera] A civil council in Syria's Raqqa has pardoned 83 captured ISIS fighters, in what it said was a goodwill gesture designed to promote stability as the fighting to recapture the city from the gang intensifies.The council, which is expected to rule Raqqa once ISIS is dislodged from its self-proclaimed capital, said on Saturday that the pardoned fighters were low-ranking members and were not involved with violence.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have gained significant ground in the battle for Raqqa, the operational base for ISIS over the past three years.
Senior SDF figures predict Raqqa could fall within months.
The youngest of the prisoners pardoned was 14 years old, according to the Rooters news agency.
They were transported to the headquarters of the Raqqa City Council in the village of Ain Issa, north of Raqqa, in an amnesty coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan.
'No senior posts'
Leila Mustafa, co-leader of the council, read out a speech saying the prisoners released had no blood on their hands and held no senior posts.
Syria has been locked in a multi-sided civil war for more than six years involving regional powers and a US-led coalition whose air raids put ISIS on the defensive.
"We would never release senior ISIS officials or anyone who has blood on their hands," senior council member Omar Aloush told Rooters, using an Arabic term for ISIS. "We are giving these men a second chance."