Iraqi security forces lead suspect ISIL militants for questionings, after they were transferred from Syria to Iraq, at Al-Karkh Central Prison in Baghdad, Iraq, on Feb. 12, 2026. (AP File Photo)
Iraq has rejected Syria’s request to repatriate thousands of suspected ISIL members transferred from Syrian detention centers to Iraqi custody earlier this year, a senior Iraqi security official has said.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Aboudi said on Oct. 7 that a meeting had been held recently between Syria, Iraq and the United States to discuss the fate of the prisoners.
Al-Aboudi said Syria had requested that the approximately 4,000 Syrian prisoners be handed over to be tried in Syria, but Iraq refused. Iraq has determined that about 400 Syrian detainees were not ISIL members and can be released, he told The Associated Press. About 50 have already been repatriated. Hundreds of the Syrians still detained in Iraq are believed to be high-ranking members of the extremist group.
“Iraq is conducting investigations, and anyone proved to have committed crimes in Iraq will be tried under Iraqi law,” he said.
Some prisoners could later be transferred to their home countries to complete their sentences, he said.
Syria did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
More than 5,700 prisoners with alleged ISIL ties — including some 4,000 Syrians — were transferred from northeast Syria to Iraq after fighting broke out in January between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had long guarded the detention centers where they were held.
Some ISIL-linked prisoners managed to flee during the chaos of the clashes, and there were fears that a larger-scale escape would take place. While the group lost control of the territory it once seized in Iraq and Syria years ago, its cells still periodically carry out attacks in both countries.
The discussions come as the United States has ended a 12-year mission to fight ISIL in Iraq, with the last U.S. troops withdrawing from the country last month.
