Iraq receives 5,000 ISIS prisoners from Syria for questioning
US Central Command (CENTCOM) has facilitated the transfer of approximately 5,000 Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq, according to Iraqi media reports on February 11.
The US began the mission to transfer up to 7,000 detainees from Syria to Iraq on January 21, according to CENTCOM. Iraqi Justice Minister Khaled Shwani predicted that the transfer will be completed by February 12. The movement of Islamic State members to Iraq comes as Iraqi authorities have warned about the jihadist group’s threats in the Anbar and Nineveh provinces along the border with Syria, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The fate of thousands of Islamic State detainees in Syria became a concern in January during clashes between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Thousands of adult male detainees and more than 20,000 detained women and children have been held in Syria since the Islamic State was largely defeated in Syria in 2019. The jihadist group’s members have been held in two dozen facilities in Syria, including two large camps.
The transfer of Islamic State members appears to have increased in early February in the wake of a deal between the Syrian government and the SDF. The government is deploying Interior Ministry forces to eastern Syria in areas previously controlled by the SDF, including territory where the Islamic State members had been held. By February 9, a report from The Arab Weeklysaid that 2,200 detainees had been moved to Iraq, a number attributed to unnamed Iraqi officials. Additional reports said that another 2,000 had been moved by February 10, bringing the total to 4,583.
By Ulviyya Salmanli
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