US-backed SDF transfer ISIS members from Raqqa to al-Hasakah: Sources
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Sources told Al Mayadeen that the ISIS terrorists are being transferred from Raqqa prisons to ones in al-Hasakah under US supervision.
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Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) armed groups in Baghouz, Syria on March 23, 2019 (AFP)
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) transferred several prisoners belonging to the ISIS terrorist group from the prison in Raqqa to the "Industrial Secondary School" prison in the city of al-Hasakah, Informed sources told Al Mayadeen on Sunday.
The sources explained that the transfer was conducted under US supervision with strict security measures in place to prevent any security breaches, following the escape of five foreign prisoners last week, of whom the SDF managed to recapture only two.
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"The transferred individuals are foreign militants who either surrendered to the SDF or were captured during its battles" to occupy the city of Raqqa and its countryside, they said.
"The United States moved several ISIS prisoners from smaller prisons in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor to the International Coalition base in the city of Al-Shaddadi, and from there to the Industrial Secondary School prison in al-Hasakah," the sources added.
They indicated that "the Coalition is overseeing an organized process of transferring foreign ISIS members to more secure detention facilities."
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"Washington is working to ensure the transfer of foreign prisoners to prisons that have been rehabilitated under the supervision of the International Coalition in al-Hasakah".
Iraq remains the only country to have repatriated some of its citizens who were ISIS members detained in SDF prisons, in coordination with the International Coalition. This followed the submission of a list by Baghdad of individuals wanted for their involvement in massacres and crimes against civilians in areas liberated by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces from ISIS control.
Accurate figures on the number of repatriated individuals remain unavailable, with estimates ranging between 100 and 300, most of whom are officially wanted by Iraqi authorities.
Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, revealed in media statements that "approximately 2,000 ISIS members of Iraqi nationality are currently held in SDF prisons, having fled the battles of liberation in Iraq."
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