U.S. forces helped prevent what officials described as a near-catastrophic prison break involving nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees in northern Syria, according to an exclusive report published Tuesday.
The detainees — characterized by a senior U.S. intelligence official as “the worst of the worst” — had been held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since the fall of ISIS’s territorial caliphate in 2019. While the so-called caliphate collapsed, thousands of fighters remained in detention facilities scattered across northeastern Syria.
But in recent months, deteriorating security conditions threatened to unravel that containment.
According to U.S. officials, intelligence assessments in late October warned that Syria’s fragile political transition could spiral into disorder, creating conditions ripe for a mass escape. By early January, fighting that began in Aleppo had spread eastward, stretching SDF resources and raising alarm about the integrity of prison security.
The stakes were stark.
“If these 6,000 or so got out and returned to the battlefield, that would basically be the instant reconstitution of ISIS,” a senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital.
As the threat intensified, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinated daily interagency discussions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly managed day-to-day policy considerations, while U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) provided logistical muscle for what would become a rapid and complex transfer operation.
Over several weeks, U.S. forces assisted in moving the detainees from northern Syria into Iraqi custody. Officials said helicopters and additional military assets were deployed to accelerate the process amid growing instability on the ground.
“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 6,000 out in the course of just a few weeks,” the senior intelligence official said.
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 files that could support future prosecutions.
Iraqi officials supported the transfer, citing fears that a prison collapse could recreate conditions reminiscent of 2014, when ISIS surged across Iraq and Syria. One official warned of a potential “ISIS is on our border situation once more” if the detainees had escaped en masse.
The emergency operation focused on male ISIS fighters. Women and children housed in camps such as al-Hol were not part of the transfer. Responsibility for those camps remains complicated amid shifting power dynamics within Syria.
