ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Around 500 Islamic State (ISIS) detainees have reportedly been transferred from Syria to Iraq, two senior Iraqi security sources confirmed to Rudaw on Wednesday. While their remarks align with statements from the US Central Command (CENTCOM), they contradict Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who told Rudaw on Monday that the transfer has not yet been implemented.
The two well-placed Iraqi security sources who spoke to Rudaw anonymously reported that four convoys carrying 475 Islamic State (ISIS) detainees have been transferred from prisons previously held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria (Rojava), noting that the suspects were primarily held in facilities in Rojava’s eastern Hasaka province.
The sources said the detainees were moved from Syria to facilities in Iraq by Tuesday evening.
One of the officials detailed that around “95 percent of those transferred are foreign nationals, with Syrians making up the majority of them.”
All of the detainees were held at Ghuwayran prison in Hasaka, the sources confirmed, adding that the transferred group includes some of the “most dangerous” ISIS members, many of whom were among the top echelon of the extremist organization.
Of note, Ghuwayran prison is a high-security detention facility that gained international attention in January 2022, when ISIS launched a massive operation to free thousands of its fighters of various nationalities, including hundreds of minors who had grown up under the extremist group in what it calls the “Cubs of the Caliphate.” After a brutal 10-day confrontation, the US-backed SDF regained control of the facility that continues to be described as a ticking time bomb.
CENTCOM announced last week that “U.