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Baghdad said Sunday it will prosecute and try members of the Daesh terrorist organization transferred from detention facilities in neighboring Syria to Iraq under a U.S.-brokered deal, as security shifts in northern Syria prompted detainee transfers and humanitarian measures.
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced the decision after a meeting of senior security and political officials who discussed the transfer of around 9,000 Daesh detainees held in Syria since the group’s collapse there in 2019.
The move followed clashes last month in northeastern Syria, where Syrian government forces routed YPG/SDF members who had guarded Daesh prisons and camps for years. Syrian troops seized the al-Hol camp, which houses thousands, mostly families of Daesh members, after YPG/SDF members withdrew under a ceasefire.
Forces also took control of a prison in the northeastern town of Shaddadeh, from where some detainees escaped during fighting, though Syrian state media later reported many were recaptured.
Clashes between Syrian forces and the SDF raised fears of Daesh sleeper cells being activated and detainees escaping. Iraqi officials said they were particularly concerned that escaped militants could regroup and threaten Iraq’s security along the Syria-Iraq border.
The council said Daesh prisoners accused of terrorism will be investigated by Iraqi security forces and tried in domestic courts once transferred.
The U.S. military began the transfer process on Friday. Another 125 detainees were moved on Sunday, according to Iraqi security officials speaking to The Associated Press.
So far, 275 prisoners have been transferred, a process officials said has been slow as detainees are being transported by air.
Both Syria and the United States welcomed Baghdad’s offer. Iraq’s parliament was set to meet later Sunday to discuss developments in Syria, where government forces are increasing their presence along the border.
Fighting has largely halted under a ceasefire extended to support the transfer operation, according to Syria’s Defense Ministry.
Separately, Syrian state media reported that civilians in Syria’s Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) district of Aleppo province began crossing humanitarian corridors opened by the Syrian Army.
According to Alikhbaria Syria TV, families used the “Nour Ali” corridor designated by the army’s Operations Command. Officials said two corridors were opened along the Raqqa–Hasakah–Aleppo axis, one near Tal Dawud village on the Raqqa–Hasakah road and another near Nour Ali village at the Ayn al-Arab junction on the M4 highway.
The corridors were opened to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery and the safe passage of vulnerable civilians.
Daesh was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but sleeper cells continue to carry out attacks. Last year, U.S. troops and SDF detained more than 300 Daesh militants in Syria and killed over 20.
A Daesh ambush in December killed two U.S. soldiers and an American civilian interpreter in Syria.
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