Iraqi authorities affirm the switch, saying detainees of 61 nationalities have arrived within the nation.
Revealed On 15 Feb 2026
America has introduced the completion of the switch of greater than 5,700 suspected ISIL (ISIS) detainees from Syria to Iraq.
“The 23-day switch mission started on Jan 21 and resulted in US forces efficiently transporting greater than 5,700 grownup male ISIS fighters from detention services in Syria to Iraqi custody,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated in a press release on X on Saturday.
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The operation was completed after an evening flight from northeastern Syria to Iraq occurred on February 12, “to assist guarantee ISIS detainees stay safe in detention services”, CENTCOM added.
The US had beforehand introduced it could switch about 7,000 detainees.
The detainees from some 60 nations had for years been held in Syrian prisons run by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) earlier than the recapture of surrounding territory by the Syrian authorities prompted the US to step in.
ISIL swept throughout Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres and forcing girls and ladies into sexual slavery.
Backed by US-led forces, Iraq proclaimed a victory over ISIL within the nation in 2017, and the SDF in the end defeated the armed group in Syria two years later.
The SDF went on to jail hundreds of suspected fighters and detain tens of hundreds of their family in camps.
Iraq’s Nationwide Centre for Worldwide Judicial Cooperation (NCIJC) stated 5,704 ISIL detainees of 61 nationalities had arrived in Iraq. They embrace 3,543 Syrians, 467 Iraqis, and one other 710 detainees from different Arab nations.
There are additionally greater than 980 foreigners, together with these from Europe, Asia, Australia and the US.
“We respect Iraq’s management and recognition that transferring the detainees is important to regional safety,” stated CENTCOM head, Admiral Brad Cooper. “Job properly achieved to your complete Joint Drive crew who executed this exceptionally difficult mission on the bottom and within the air.”
The NCIJC stated Iraq’s judiciary will interrogate the detainees earlier than taking authorized motion towards them.
Final month, Syrian troops drove the SDF from swaths of northern Syria, prompting questions over the destiny of the ISIL prisoners. Lingering doubts about safety pushed the US to announce it could switch them to Iraq to forestall “a breakout” that would threaten the area.
Iraq has issued requires nations to repatriate their nationals among the many ISIL detainees, although this seems unlikely.
For years, the SDF additionally known as on overseas governments to take again their residents, however this was achieved on a small scale and remained restricted to girls and kids held in detention camps.
Most overseas households have left northeast Syria’s al-Hol camp, which is the most important camp holding family of ISIL fighters, for the reason that departure of the SDF, which beforehand guarded it, humanitarian sources instructed the AFP information company on Thursday.
Al Jazeera’s Assad Beig stated the al-Hol camp, established in 2019 after ISIL was defeated in Syria, developed a “infamous popularity” through the years.
“Assist employees documented the killings and underground ISIL enforcement teams, whereas safety officers warned it was a breeding floor for future armed teams,” he stated.
