US moves ISIS prisoners in Syria to jails in Iraq amid concern over security
Some 150 fighters were moved Wednesday, but thousands more could follow as tensions flare between the Syrian government and a Kurdish-led militia.
The U.S. is rushing to move captured Islamic State fighters out of northeast Syria amid fears that tensions between pro-government forces and a Kurdish-led militia could lead to a security breakdown and the escape of thousands of militants.
A group of 150 ISIS fighters who have been held at a prison in Hasakah were flown on a U.S. C-17 Wednesday to an undisclosed location in Iraq, U.S. officials said. Up to 7,000 additional ISIS fighters could be moved to Iraq in the coming days, the officials added.
The transfer shows the challenges in building a new order in Syria following the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and fears that ISIS remnants might seize on instability to attempt a comeback.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a deal earlier this week with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that established a cease-fire and called for the integration of individual SDF members into the Syrian army and interior ministry.
The speedy transfer of detainees reflects fears that the truce might collapse or that security at detention centers could fray.
“This is because there is little confidence that this cease-fire is going to last," said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “It is also reflective frankly of the fact that the U.S. does not have the troop capacity to take charge even temporarily of the facilities themselves."
The U.S.-led coalition defeated ISIS militants and collapsed their self-declared caliphate in 2019. But remnants of the group have been attempting to regroup. The militant group has long sought to swell its ranks through prison breaks.
In recent days, some low-level prisoners escaped from a facility holding ISIS detainees in the town of Shaddadi in eastern Syria amid fighting around the facility. Many of these prisoners were recaptured by Syrian government forces, who assumed control of that prison after SDF guards left.
The new Syrian government, led by former rebel leader Sharaa, took power in December 2024 after a lightning offensive that toppled Assad, an authoritarian leader.
Sharaa’s government joined the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS in November coinciding with a November visit by the new Syrian president to the White House. Since then a major challenge has been how to integrate the Kurdish-led SDF, which the U.S. military worked with during the campaign against ISIS, with the new Syrian authorities.
“The original purpose of the SDF as the primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities, including control of ISIS detention facilities and camps," said President Trump’s special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, on social media on Tuesday.
The statement signaled the end to a more than decadelong U.S. security partnership with the SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters who have operated a small state within a state in northeastern Syria for years. It also opened a new chapter in the U.S. counterterrorism strategy in which Washington is aligning itself with Sharaa’s forces.
The persistent challenge from ISIS was illustrated in December when a gunman ambushed U.S. forces near Palmyra. Two of the Americans killed were members of the Iowa National Guard while the third U.S. fatality was a civilian interpreter.
The U.S. responded with a series of punishing airstrikes, including one last week that the U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said killed an al Qaeda leader connected to the gunman. More than 300 ISIS operatives have been captured and more than 20 have been killed over the past year, the command said.
The Wednesday transfer of the ISIS detainees caught many observers by surprise and appeared to reflect the fraught security in northeast Syria following the government offensive. Sunday’s tenuous cease-fire followed a rapid offensive against the SDF, which collapsed as Arab factions flipped sides to join the government.
“Facilitating the orderly and secure transfer of ISIS detainees is critical to preventing a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security," Adm. Brad Cooper, the leader of the Central Command, said in a statement.
ISIS first burst on to the world scene in 2014 when it took over much of northeast Syria and poured over the border into Iraq, capturing Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. The Obama and first Trump administration spent years organizing a coalition to rout the group. While the Iraqis provided virtually all of the ground troops, the U.S. provided air power and advisers.
The collapse of the ISIS caliphate, however, left the U.S. with another problem. Thousands of hardened ISIS fighters were held in a network of detention facilities in northeast Syria. Many of them were from foreign countries whose governments have been reluctant to take them back. Tens of thousands of refugees, including the families of ISIS fighters, were also held at the Al-Hol camp as well.
Turning over the camps to then Syrian President Assad was a nonstarter for the U.S. But Sharaa’s rise to power has enabled the U.S. to shift control of the camp to the Syrian government.
Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com and Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com
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