ISIS fighters remain at large after Syria prison break amid chaos

Some ISIS prisoners who escaped from a prison in northeastern Syria on January 19 are still missing after the resulting chaos made tracking some fighters “impossible”, an analyst familiar with the situation suggested.

As US forces sought to transport thousands of male militants from the region to Iraq, wives of ISIS fighters were left behind in what he described as “fragile” internment camps.

“Damascus claims that most of those who escaped have been recaptured, but some remain at large.” Syria analyst Nanar Hawach he told Fox News Digital.

“The exact number that was not calculated is unclear because the chaos made it impossible to keep track of them all,” Hawach said. International Crisis Group.

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“The US transfer to Iraq includes male detainees in prisons, but those detained in camps remain under the control of Damascus in Syria.”

U.S. Central Command confirmed on January 21 that it had begun transferring ISIS prisoners to Iraqi-controlled facilities as an urgent effort to prevent a resurgence of the terrorist group amid deteriorating security conditions.

The move followed a prison break from a detention center in Hasakah province during clashes between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

During the chaos, militants emerged and although most were later recaptured, the full extent of the escape remains unclear.

US forces have already transferred approximately 150 ISIS fighters from a detention facility in Hasakah to safe locations in Iraq, according to CENTCOM, which says up to 7,000 detainees could ultimately be transferred.

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ISIS wives and children remain in “fragile” Syrian detention camps under Damascus control, while male fighters are transferred to Iraq and the detention crisis remains unresolved. (Santiago Montag/Anatolia via Getty Image)

An Iraqi intelligence general told Associated Press He reported that on January 21, Iraqi authorities first received a group of 144 detainees and that additional transfers were planned to be made by plane.

“The United States is facilitating transfers to custody in Iraq as an emergency measure due to the unstable security situation in northeastern Syria,” Hawach said, noting that Iraq’s secure prisons “reduce the risk of further mass escapes.”

“Human rights organizations have expressed concerns about trial procedures in Iraq, but the priority now is to prevent escapes and Iraq can achieve this.”

Hawach emphasized that the transfers only apply to male fighters held in prisons, and not to women and children imprisoned in camps such as the infamous Al Hol.

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ISIS wives and children remain in “fragile” Syrian detention camps under Damascus control, while male fighters are transferred to Iraq and the detention crisis remains unresolved. (Santiago Montag/Anatolia via Getty Image)

Al-Hol camp has housed tens of thousands of ISIS-affiliated women and children since the group’s territorial defeat in 2019.

“Women and children are held in camps, not prisons, and are treated differently than male combatants,” Hawach said.

“The long-term solution for women and children is repatriation, but most governments have been reluctant to do so,” Hawach said. he said.

“Some women are ideologically committed, some are not. Distinguishing between them requires case-by-case assessments that have not occurred on a broad scale.” Hawach cautioned, however, that the deeper issue remains unresolved.

“The detention system was always fragile, always underfunded, and always a temporary solution awaiting permanent answers,” he said.

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“Transfers to Iraq address the immediate crisis, but they do not solve the underlying problem of what to do with this population in the long term.”

US Special Representative for Syria Tom Barrack said this week that “the SDF’s original purpose as the primary anti-ISIS force in the field is largely over, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to assume security responsibilities for ISIS, including control of ISIS detention facilities and camps.”