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US General Warns of ISIS ‘Army in Detention’ in Syria, Iraq

A handout picture released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 11, 2023, shows US Central Command Commander General Michael Kurilla (C) visiting a camp, which holds relatives of suspected ISIS group fighters, in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. (Photo by US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
A handout picture released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 11, 2023, shows US Central Command Commander General Michael Kurilla (C) visiting a camp, which holds relatives of suspected ISIS group fighters, in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. (Photo by US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
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US General Warns of ISIS ‘Army in Detention’ in Syria, Iraq

A handout picture released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 11, 2023, shows US Central Command Commander General Michael Kurilla (C) visiting a camp, which holds relatives of suspected ISIS group fighters, in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. (Photo by US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
A handout picture released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 11, 2023, shows US Central Command Commander General Michael Kurilla (C) visiting a camp, which holds relatives of suspected ISIS group fighters, in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. (Photo by US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)

A US general warned Saturday that the Middle East faces the looming threat of an ISIS group "army in detention", after visiting prisons and camps in northeastern Syria holding suspected extremists and their relatives.

General Michael Kurilla, head of the US military's Central Command, visited several detention facilities this week, including Ghwayran prison in the city of Hasakeh, where hundreds were killed after extremists stormed it early last year, a CENTCOM statement said.

"In visiting the detention facility, I saw the looming threat posed by this group of detained ISIS fighters," Kurilla said in the statement.

"Between those detained in Syria and Iraq it is a veritable 'ISIS army in detention'. If freed, this group would pose a great threat regionally and beyond," he added.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by a US-led coalition, spearheaded the fight against ISIS in Syria, driving the group from its last redoubt in the country in 2019.

Tens of thousands of people, including relatives of alleged extremists, have been detained in the years since in camps run by the Kurdish authorities, including the notorious Al-Hol camp, where around 10,000 foreigners are held.

Kurdish authorities have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens, but foreign governments have allowed only a trickle to return home, fearing security threats and domestic political backlash.

SDF commanders and administrators at Ghwayran prison described the detainees as "unrepentant, subject to further radicalization to violence, and a ticking time bomb", CENTCOM said.

Kurilla also visited the Kurdish-run camps of Roj and Al-Hol, where relatives of suspected extremists are held.

Children in Al-Hol "are in daily danger of indoctrination to violence", CENTCOM said, adding that teenagers with foreign parents "expressed a desire to return to their country of origin".

Kurilla urged the "repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of the camp residents back into their countries and communities of origin", calling Al-Hol a "flashpoint of human suffering".

The extremists were ousted from Iraqi territory in 2017 but retain sleeper cells in desert and mountain hideouts in both Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Suspected ISIS militants killed three truffle hunters and kidnapped at least 26 others in northern Syria on Saturday, a war monitor said.

The fight against the extremists "is a fight for security and stability of not only Syria and Iraq, but the entire region", Kurilla said.

"We absolutely cannot allow a resurgence of ISIS."

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Arab World

Syrians Circulate Lists of War Crimes Suspects

 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
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Syrians Circulate Lists of War Crimes Suspects

 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).

The file of individuals implicated in war crimes and human rights violations under the deposed Syrian regime remains one of the most complex challenges facing the new administration in Syria, especially in the absence of official, public lists of wanted persons.
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria has been investigating war crimes and other violations of international human rights law since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Operating remotely, the commission has compiled lists containing approximately 4,000 names of individuals suspected of committing serious crimes. Following his first visit to Syria on January 9, a UN investigator tasked with examining these violations expressed optimism for “productive cooperation” with the new Syrian authorities.
In addition, “Pro Justice,” a Washington-based organization founded in 2019 by Syrian Americans under the sponsorship of defected Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, previously released a “blacklist” before the fall of the regime, naming 100 high-ranking officials from the former regime accused of war crimes committed since 2011. This remains one of the few publicly documented lists, with detailed files outlining the role of each individual in these crimes.

In December, UN investigators announced confidential lists naming 4,000 individuals responsible for serious crimes in Syria. They emphasized the importance of ensuring accountability at the highest levels following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
Linnea Arvidsson, coordinator for the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, stated: “It is crucial to hold perpetrators of crimes at the highest levels accountable.”
Since the regime’s fall, dozens of “unofficial” lists have circulated, naming and depicting suspects. One prominent list includes 161 names of senior officers and leaders of the former regime, topped by Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher al-Assad, commander of the Fourth Armored Division.
This division, along with Air Force Intelligence, is accused of committing atrocities such as the Daraya massacre in 2012, the chemical weapons attack in Douma in 2013, and other crimes including drug trafficking and managing detention centers tied to these activities.
Nevertheless, arrests have also been made of individuals not listed in these reports. For example, Brigadier General Riyad Hassan, head of Political Security in Damascus, was arrested on December 27. Other arrests include Hayyan Miya, leader of the National Defense Militia in Latakia, and Aws Salloum, known as “Azrael of Sednaya,” who is accused of brutally executing over 500 detainees during the security campaign in Homs and its countryside.
Similarly, Mohammad Nour al-Din Shalloum, accused of destroying surveillance footage from Sednaya Prison, was detained after the regime’s fall, along with the killing of several prison guards.
On December 26, Syrian military forces successfully killed Shujaa al-Ali, infamously known as the “Butcher of Houla,” during clashes in western rural Homs. Al-Ali, who led the largest militia in the region, had spent the last four years engaging in extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and drug trafficking.
Platforms such as the “Wanted List of Former Regime Officers and Militants,” which emerged after the regime’s collapse, continue to monitor suspects and share their names and alleged crimes, primarily targeting well-known militia leaders in their respective regions.
Civil activist Ayman Ahmad from Homs warns that the unregulated circulation of random, unofficial lists on social media poses a significant threat to civil peace. “These lists are a form of incitement to violence and fearmongering, which only complicates the situation,” he said, pointing out reports of over 1,000 arrests during recent security campaigns in Homs neighborhoods.
He added: “As long as arrests are being made based on lists determined by the new administration, even if those lists are not publicly disclosed, we urge a halt to the dissemination of random, unofficial lists. These lists incite indiscriminate violence and deepen social divisions.”