EXCLUSIVE: Officials describe this as a prison break that could have transformed the region—and potentially the entire world—overnight.
Nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees—labeled “the worst of the worst” by a senior U.S. intelligence official—were held in northern Syria as clashes and instability endangered the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is tasked with guarding the militants and stopping a feared ISIS resurgence. U.S. officials warned that if the prisons fell amid the chaos, the effects would be immediate.
“If these roughly 6,000 individuals escaped and rejoined the battlefield, ISIS would essentially be instantly reconstituted,” the senior intelligence official told Digital.
In an exclusive interview, the official walked Digital through the behind-the-scenes operation to move detainees out of Syria and into Iraq, detailing a multi-agency effort that unfolded over weeks. It involved intelligence alerts, fast-paced diplomacy, and a quick military transfer.
The official noted the risk had been growing for months. In late October, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard started evaluating that Syria’s transition might spiral into chaos, setting the stage for a catastrophic prison break.
At that time, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) dispatched the official to Syria and Iraq to start initial talks with both the SDF and Iraqi government. The goal was to figure out how to relocate the “most dangerous detainees”—as the official repeatedly called them—before the situation worsened.
Those concerns intensified in early January when fighting broke out in Aleppo and spread east. Time was running short to avoid disaster. “We were facing a severe crisis,” the official stated.
As the situation escalated, the ODNI led daily cross-agency coordination calls, per the source. The official added that the Secretary of State handled “day-to-day policy matters,” while the ODNI led a working group to align CENTCOM, diplomats, and intelligence officials on the pressing question: how to stop nearly 6,000 ISIS fighters from disappearing into the chaos of war.
The Iraqi government recognized the stakes, the official noted. Baghdad had its own motives to act fast: it feared thousands of escaped detainees would cross the border and resuscitate a threat Iraq still vividly remembers.
The official put Iraq’s motivation plainly: leaders knew a large-scale escape could push Iraq back into a “2014-style situation where ISIS is on our border again.”
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad played a key role in clearing diplomatic hurdles for what turned into a major logistical operation, the official said.
Next came the actual transfer. The official praised CENTCOM for ramping up resources to execute the plan on the ground, noting that deploying helicopters and other assets allowed detainees to be relocated in a short period.
“Thanks to those efforts—deploying helicopters, adding more resources, and logistically pulling this off—we managed to relocate these nearly 6,000 individuals in just a few weeks,” the official stated.
The SDF had been guarding the prisons, but its focus was stretched thin by fighting elsewhere, the official said. This stoked U.S. fears that one breach could lead to a mass escape. In the end, the detainees were transferred to Iraq, where they are now held at a facility near Baghdad International Airport under Iraqi control.
The next phase, the official explained, centers on identification and accountability. U.S. and Iraqi teams are collecting biometric data from detainees in Iraq, while U.S. and Iraqi officials review which intelligence can be declassified for use in prosecutions.
“Essentially, they’re asking us to share all the intelligence and information we have on these people,” the official said. “Right now, the top priority is biometrically identifying each individual.”
The official added that the U.S. State Department is also urging countries of origin to take responsibility for their citizens among the detainees.
“The State Department is currently reaching out to all these countries and encouraging them to retrieve their citizens,” he stated.
While the transfer only included ISIS fighters, the senior intelligence official noted that detention camps like al-Hol were not part of the operation, leaving a major unresolved security and humanitarian challenge.
The camps had separate arrangements, the official explained, and responsibility changed as ground control shifted.
Per the official, the U.S. government reached an agreement that Damascus would assume control of the al-Hol camp, which houses thousands of women and children linked to ISIS.
“You can see from social media that the al-Hol camp is almost completely emptying out,” the official said, adding that “it seems the Syrian government has decided to release them.” The official called this scenario deeply worrying for regional security: “That is very concerning.”
Counterterrorism officials have long seen the families’ fate as one of the most complex, unresolved parts of the ISIS detention system. Many children were born and raised in camps after ISIS lost territory, and some are now nearing fighting age—sparking fears of future radicalization and recruitment.
For now, intelligence agencies are closely monitoring developments following the rapid operation. In their view, the operation stopped thousands of experienced ISIS militants from rejoining the battlefield all at once and possibly reigniting the group’s military strength.
“This is a rare positive story coming out of Syria,” the official concluded.