The US military has launched a mission to transfer up to 7,000 Islamic State (IS) group fighters from prisons in northeastern Syria to Iraq, as Syrian government forces take control of areas long controlled by Kurdish-led forces.
US Central Command stated that it has already moved 150 IS fighters from Hassakeh province to a secure location in Iraq. The move aims to prevent a breakout that ‘would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security,’ it added.
On Tuesday night, Syria's government announced a new ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after the militia alliance withdrew from al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of relatives of IS fighters.
Separately on Wednesday, Syria's defence ministry reported that seven soldiers were killed in a drone attack by Kurdish forces in the Kurdish-dominated province of Hasakah. The government and SDF had earlier blamed each other for the escape of suspected IS fighters from an SDF-run prison in Shaddadi, in southern Hassakeh.
Syria's interior ministry said that its special forces had entered the town following ‘the escape of around 120 [IS] terrorists’ from the prison. Search operations resulted in the arrest of 81 of the fugitives. The SDF reported losing control of Shaddadi prison after “Damascus-affiliated factions” mounted attacks and killed many of its fighters.
IS has been weakened in Syria, yet remains active, primarily targeting Kurdish-led forces in the northeast. The US was once the SDF's main ally; however, US special envoy Tom Barrack noted that the rationale for this partnership has ‘largely expired’, shifting the US focus to securing IS-held facilities and facilitating talks between the SDF and the Syrian government. This moment presents an opportunity for full integration into a unified Syrian state with citizenship rights and cultural protections for all citizens.
