An analyst with knowledge of the incident stated that several ISIS inmates who broke out of a prison on January 19th remain missing, as the subsequent disorder made monitoring some of the fighters “impossible.”

He added that while U.S. forces are working to relocate thousands of male militants from the area to Iraq, their wives have been abandoned in what he characterized as “fragile” detention camps.

“Damascus asserts that a majority of the escapees were apprehended again, but a number are still free,” an individual told Digital.

Hawach from the [organization] stated, “The precise number of those missing is unknown since the turmoil rendered tracking everyone impossible.”

“The U.S. transfer initiative pertains to male detainees in prisons, but individuals held in camps stay in Syria under the control of Damascus.”

This period of instability also preceded news that the United States is evaluating a full troop pullout from Syria.

Speaking on Thursday, Charles Lister, the director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, told [outlet] that “the primary factor maintaining the U.S. military presence in Syria for the past year has been the detention facilities and the camps.”

On January 21, U.S. Central Command verified that it started moving ISIS prisoners to centers under Iraqi control, an urgent step to stop the terrorist organization from re-emerging as security conditions worsen.

This action came after an incident at a detention center in Hasakah province amid fighting involving Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Militants escaped during the disturbances, and although a significant number were later caught again, the complete extent of the breakout is still not known.

CENTCOM reported that U.S. forces have moved approximately [number] from a Hasakah detention center to secure sites in Iraq, with the potential for up to 7,000 detainees to be relocated.

An Iraqi intelligence general informed [outlet] on January 21 that the country’s authorities had taken in a first group of 144 detainees, with more transfers scheduled via aircraft.

Hawach commented, “The U.S. is enabling transfers to Iraqi custody as an emergency step due to the precarious security environment in northeast Syria,” adding that Iraq’s more secure prisons “lower the danger of additional large-scale breakouts.”

“While human rights groups have expressed worries about Iraqi trial processes, the current focus is on preventing escapes, which Iraq can achieve.”

Hawach stressed that the relocation efforts only involve male combatants detained in prisons, and do not include the women and children held in camps like the infamous al-Hawl.

The al-Hawl camp has housed tens of thousands of women and children associated with ISIS since the group lost its territorial holdings in 2019.

“Women and children are detained in camps, not prisons, and are handled differently from male fighters,” Hawach explained.

“Repatriation to their countries of origin is the long-term answer for the women and children, but most nations have been hesitant.

“Some women are ideologically driven; others are not. Telling them apart needs individual evaluations that have not been conducted widely.”

Nevertheless, Hawach cautioned that the fundamental issue persists.

He remarked, “The detention system was perpetually fragile, perpetually underfunded, and always a stopgap measure awaiting lasting solutions.”

“Transferring detainees to Iraq deals with the urgent situation but fails to resolve the core long-term dilemma of what to do with this population.”

This week, U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said that “the original role of the SDF as the main anti-ISIS ground force has mostly ended, since Damascus is now ready and able to assume security duties, which includes managing ISIS detention facilities and camps.”