Iraq sends nearly 2,000 Syrian soldiers back home

BAGHDAD: Iraq sent back nearly 2,000 Syrian soldiers on Thursday to their homeland after they had sought refuge in Iraq during the advance of rebel forces that toppled President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, according to an Iraqi military statement.

The Syrian soldiers were returned at their request and entered via a border crossing between Iraq and Syria, it said. “In coordination with some parties on the Syrian side, 1,905 Syrian officers and soldiers were handed over in a legal...