Shafaq News– Baghdad
Iraq has begun receiving high-risk detainees transferred from prisons in northeastern Syria, including senior figures from ISIS and al-Qaeda classified as “first-tier” operatives.
An informed security source told Shafaq News on Wednesday that the transfers include militants implicated in car bombings, killings, and beheadings, with some case files dating back to 2005. The detainees are of multiple nationalities, including Iraqis, Chechens, Afghans, Europeans, Egyptians, Sudanese, and Somalis. Iraqi nationals account for an estimated 80 to 150 of those transferred, while most of the remainder are foreign fighters, many of whom were previously sentenced to death in absentia.
The disclosures follow official statements from both Baghdad and the US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirming the start of the transfer operation. Sabah Al-Numan, spokesman for Iraq’s commander-in-chief, said the National Security Council approved the move during an emergency meeting, in coordination with the US-led Global Coalition, to take custody of Iraqi and foreign detainees previously held in prisons run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He confirmed Iraq has already received an initial batch of 150 detainees.
CENTCOM separately announced that US forces had begun relocating ISIS prisoners from northeastern Syria to Iraq “to ensure they remain in secure detention facilities,” noting that the total number transferred could eventually reach around 7,000.
For years, the SDF managed ISIS detention centers and camps in northeastern Syria following the group’s territorial defeat. The issue has resurfaced sharply in recent days amid renewed clashes between the SDF and Syrian government forces, raising fears of security breakdowns, escapes, or prison breaches.