US begins moving thousands of ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq

CENTCOM cites the risk of mass escapes as Syrian troops enter former SDF-controlled zones.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The US Army began transferring thousands of ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq amid concerns that detainees could escape after Syrian government forces overran Kurdish-held territory in the country’s northeast, where the prisons are located.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had “successfully transported 150 ISIS fighters held at a detention facility in Hasakah, Syria, to a secure location in Iraq.”

“Ultimately,” it added, “up to 7,000 ISIS detainees could be transferred to … Iraqi-controlled facilities.”

“Facilitating the orderly and secure transfer of ISIS detainees is critical to preventing a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security,” said CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper.

According to regional media reports, nearly 200 ISIS fighters have already escaped from small prisons in other provinces captured by Syrian forces or their allies during a recent push to retake the largely autonomous Kurdish regions.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led coalition of US-backed ethnic militias and rebel groups that defeated the ISIS attempt to take over Syria about six years ago, has operated several detention camps for captured members of the Islamist terror group.

The largest is al-Hol, which holds some 24,000 prisoners, including hardened jihadists and about 6,200 wives and children of ISIS fighters, many of whom Western officials warn have been heavily indoctrinated in extremist ideology.

Syrian forces entered al-Hol on Tuesday, the same day a four-day truce with the Kurds was declared.

The SDF withdrew to northern strongholds rather than confront the advancing troops.

Syria is now governed by Sunni Islamists whom critics say espouse an ideology similar to ISIS, although President Ahmed al-Sharaa has presented a moderate and pragmatic image to Western governments.

His posture has persuaded the Trump administration to support efforts to reunify Syria under his rule, even though the Kurds have said that al-Sharaa’s forces have committed massacres of their people in the areas they have taken over.

The decision to move ISIS prisoners, however, suggests Washington does not fully trust the new Syrian leadership to keep the detainees secured.

The Israeli social media channel Abu Ali Express published footage Tuesday purportedly showing Syrian soldiers entering al-Hol while shouting “Allahu Akbar (God is great)” as detainees cheered.

The channel also circulated video it said showed a Syrian soldier waving an ISIS flag in the village of al-Karama in eastern Syria after government forces entered the area Wednesday.

Iraq, ISIS’s first major target, has not forgotten the terrorists’ bloody reign in large parts of the country.

An Iraqi intelligence general told The Associated Press that transferred prisoners would be interrogated and put on trial.

“All of them are commanders in ISIS and are considered highly dangerous,” he said.