The transfer of ISIS detainees from northeastern Syria could saddle Iraq with annual costs of up to $25 million, an Iraqi government source said on Saturday.
The source said the number of detainees stands at around 7,000 members and that the cost of feeding them is estimated at roughly 33 billion Iraqi dinars a year, or about $25 million, according to Shafaq News.
The comments came as Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Iraq should not shoulder alone the security and financial burdens resulting from the transfer of ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Hussein made the remarks during a phone call with the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, during which they discussed developments in Syria and the issue of prisons holding ISIS members.
The statement said the officials discussed security risks arising from the escape of several ISIS members from some prisons outside the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as the security situation in Syria’s Hasakah province.
They also stressed the importance of resolving disputes peacefully.
Hussein was quoted as saying that responsibility for dealing with the ISIS detainee file “must be borne by all concerned countries and should not fall on Iraq alone.”
Earlier this week, the US military’s US Central Command said its forces had transferred 150 ISIS detainees from a detention facility in Syria’s Hasakah to Iraq, adding that the move was intended to prevent their escape.
Reuters quoted a US official as saying Washington expects the transfer of up to 7,000 detainees from prisons in Syria to Iraq to be completed in the coming days, noting that hundreds of detainees could be moved daily across the border.
Political debate
Falih al-Fayyad, head of Iraq’s pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces, said Iraq had received the first batch of detainees, adding that the government would begin talks with the international coalition to shoulder the costs associated with transferring the rest.
Fayyad said most of the detainees are wanted by the Iraqi judiciary and will stand trial under Iraqi law, adding that their transfer to prisons inside Iraq “serves security interests” compared with keeping them in unstable detention facilities outside the country.
The transfer of the detainees has sparked political and media debate in Iraq, amid concerns over the financial and security burdens involved. At the same time, the government says the issue is being handled as a national security matter in coordination with the international coalition.
Separately, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani discussed with US Central Command commander Brad Cooper the timeline for the transfer, stressing the importance of security coordination to prevent any potential threats to Iraq and the region.
Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said the government had ordered the completion of a concrete wall along the Syrian border, which is 80% complete.
Numan said the transferred detainees are wanted on terrorism charges and will be held in fortified prisons, adding that the transfer “will be carried out under a tightly coordinated plan prepared by the Joint Operations Command and the relevant security agencies, in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, which has prepared an integrated plan to accommodate them inside Iraqi prisons.”
