Iraq puts $25M annual price tag on feeding transferred ISIS detainees
Shafaq News– Baghdad
Iraq expects to spend about $25 million a year to feed thousands of ISIS detainees set to be transferred from prisons in Syria, a government source told Shafaq News on Saturday.
The source told Shafaq News that the cost of providing food for up to 7,000 ISIS detainees, who will be received in stages, would reach roughly 33 billion Iraqi dinars annually, equivalent to $25 million.
Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein stressed that Iraq should not be left to absorb the financial and security consequences of transferring ISIS prisoners from Syria.
The transfers began this week after United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had moved 150 ISIS detainees from a detention facility in Syria’s Hasakah province to Iraq, citing the need to prevent potential prison breaks.
Shafaq News previously reported, citing a security source, that the transfer operation includes detainees classified as “first-line” extremists, among them senior ISIS commanders and figures linked to Al-Qaeda, some with records dating back to 2005.
The source said several detainees are accused of involvement in car bombings, killings, and beheadings, adding that the prisoners hold diverse nationalities, including Chechens, Afghans, Europeans, Egyptians, Sudanese, and Somalis.
For years, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (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.
