US transfers over 5,700 Islamic state detainees from Syria to Iraq for trial

The United States military has completed the transfer of thousands of Islamic State (IS) group detainees from Syria to Iraq, where they are expected to face trial, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday.

In a statement, CENTCOM said the operation, which began on January 21, involved the transport of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in northeastern Syria to Iraqi custody. The transfer was carried out at the request of Baghdad and was welcomed by the US-led coalition that has fought the extremist group for years.

“We appreciate Iraq’s leadership and recognition that transferring the detainees is essential to regional security,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said.

Over the past three weeks, US forces escorted detainees representing 60 nationalities from prisons run by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to Baghdad. The move was aimed at reducing the risk that instability in Syria could enable mass escapes from detention facilities and allow militants to rejoin sleeper cells that continue to conduct attacks in both Iraq and Syria.

Recent clashes between Syrian government forces and the SDF had heightened concerns about the security of the detention camps, which have long held thousands of IS suspects without formal charges or access to judicial proceedings.

Iraq has indicated it plans to prosecute a number of the transferred detainees who were held for years in Syria without trial. Many of them were captured after IS lost control of territory it had seized in 2014, when the group declared a so-called caliphate across large areas of Syria and Iraq.

At its height, the caliphate drew extremists from around the world and became a base for plotting international attacks that killed hundreds of people across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

“The successful execution of this orderly and secure transfer operation will help prevent an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said US Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Lambert, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, which led the planning and coordination of the mission.