U.S. forces prevented what officials described as a near-catastrophic prison break involving nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees held in northern Syria, according to an exclusive report published Tuesday.
The detainees were being held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as fighting and instability in the region raised concerns that prison security could collapse. ISIS lost its territorial caliphate in 2019, but thousands of fighters have remained detained in Syria since then.
A senior U.S. intelligence official described the detainees as “the worst of the worst.”
According to the report, U.S. intelligence officials began assessing in late October that Syria’s political transition could tip into disorder and create conditions for a mass escape. The situation intensified in early January as fighting that began in Aleppo spread eastward, straining SDF forces responsible for guarding the detention facilities.
Officials warned that if the prisons were overrun, the consequences would be immediate.
“If these 6,000 or so got out and returned to the battlefield, that would basically be the instant reconstitution of ISIS,” the senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinated daily interagency discussions as the crisis developed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was described as “managing the day to day on policy considerations,” while U.S. Central Command provided logistical support for the transfer operation.
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Over the course of several weeks, detainees were transported from northern Syria into Iraqi custody. Officials said helicopters and additional military resources were deployed to complete the transfer in a compressed timeframe.
The senior intelligence official said:
“Thanks to the efforts… moving in helicopters, moving in more resources, and then just logistically making this happen, we were able to get these nearly 6000 out in the course of just a few weeks.”
The detainees are now being held at a facility near Baghdad International Airport under Iraqi authority. FBI teams are conducting biometric enrollment, and U.S. and Iraqi officials are reviewing intelligence that could be used in potential prosecutions.
Iraqi officials supported the transfer, citing concerns that a mass escape could force Iraq back into what one official described as a "2014 ISIS is on our border situation once more."
The operation focused on male ISIS fighters. Women and children held in camps such as al-Hol were not included in the transfer, and officials said responsibility for those camps has shifted amid changing control inside Syria.
The detainees remain in Iraqi custody as U.S. and Iraqi officials continue biometric processing and evaluate potential prosecution pathways.
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