US to Move ISIS Detainees From Syria to Iraq Amid Kurdish Redraw
US to Move ISIS Detainees From Syria to Iraq Amid Kurdish Redraw
The US begins transferring up to 7,000 ISIS detainees from northeast Syria to Iraq as Damascus expands control, raising rights concerns and regional tensions.
The United States has started moving up to 7,000 Islamic State detainees from prisons in northeast Syria to Iraq, in a bid to prevent escapes and regrouping as Syria's new government expands its hold on areas long controlled by Kurdish-led forces. Centcom said it had already relocated about 150 IS fighters from Hassakeh province to a secure location in Iraq, describing the move as part of an orderly process tied to a ceasefire that has brought much of the northeast under Damascus’s control after Kurdish-led forces withdrew from key detention sites. CENTCOM noted that its commander, Admiral Brad Cooper, spoke with Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa to stress the importance of the ceasefire and to avoid any actions that could jeopardize a secure transfer of detainees.
Rights group Reprieve warned that detainees transferred to Iraq could face torture or execution, urging the UK government to check whether any British nationals are among those moved. The charity estimates there are no more than about 10 British men among the detainees, though the overall number remains unclear. It also says roughly 55 to 60 British nationals, many of them children, remain detained across camps and prisons in the region.
Despite the ceasefire, clashes have continued. Syria’s defence ministry said seven soldiers were killed in a drone attack in Hassakeh, a claim the SDF denied, accusing Damascus of launching attacks, including near Kobane on the Turkish border. The government and the SDF had previously blamed each other for security incidents as control of detention facilities shifts and the regional balance of power evolves.
