Thousands of Islamic State group prisoners are being transferred from detention facilities in northeast Syria to Iraq, following a request from Baghdad officials that has been welcomed by both the US-led coalition and the Syrian government.
The move comes after the US military announced on Wednesday that it had begun relocating some of the approximately 9,000 IS detainees currently held in more than a dozen centres across northeast Syria, which are controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The initial transfer involved 150 IS members, moved from Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakeh to “secure locations” in Iraq, with up to 7,000 detainees potentially being transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.
This significant relocation effort is unfolding amidst growing instability in northeast Syria. Syrian government forces recently took control of the sprawling al-Hol camp, which houses thousands of mostly women and children, from the SDF as part of a ceasefire agreement. The chaos has extended to prisons, with state media reporting that troops seized a facility in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh on Monday, where some IS detainees escaped before many were recaptured.
Further escalating tensions, the SDF reported on Thursday that government forces shelled al-Aqtan prison near the northern city of Raqqa with heavy weapons, simultaneously imposing a siege around the facility with tanks and deploying fighters. Al-Aqtan prison, which holds some IS prisoners, had been surrounded by government forces earlier in the week, with negotiations ongoing regarding its future.
Concerns have mounted in Baghdad that the instability resulting from the government’s push into northeast Syria, particularly along the Iraqi border, could allow detainees to escape and pose a direct threat to Iraq’s security. An Iraqi security official confirmed that the decision to transfer the prisoners was an Iraqi initiative, driven by the nation’s security interests, rather than leaving them in Syria. This sentiment was echoed by a senior US military official, who told The Associated Press that Iraq had “offered proactively” to take the prisoners. Both officials spoke anonymously due to not being authorised to comment publicly.
The SDF, which played a crucial role in defeating IS, has previously handed over foreign fighters, including French citizens, to Iraqi authorities for trial and sentencing. While the SDF still manages over a dozen detention facilities housing around 9,000 IS members, these are slated for handover to government control under an ongoing peace process that also envisions the eventual integration of the SDF into government forces.
The transfers underscore the persistent threat posed by IS, which, despite being defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria two years later, continues to operate through sleeper cells carrying out deadly attacks in both countries.
