Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq has taken custody of 5,704 ISIS detainees transferred from Syrian prisons, representing 66 nationalities, according to an official document issued by the Ministry of Justice.

The document, released by the Iraqi Correctional Service, records 460 Iraqi nationals among those held, while Syrian nationals constitute the largest group of foreign detainees with 3,544 inmates, followed by Tunisians (234), Moroccans (187), Turks (181), Turkistan nationals (165), and Egyptians (116).

It also lists detainees from other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Algeria, as well as Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, in addition to European and Western states such as Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The transfers followed security tensions in northeastern Syria between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and authorities in Damascus that affected detention facilities holding suspected ISIS members, prompting US Central Command to relocate detainees to prisons under Iraqi authority as part of a 23-day operation that concluded on February 12.

Read more: ISIS detainee transfers test Iraq’s post-Coalition security