SDF releases 853 ‘non-violent’ ISIS detainees: RIC

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that it has released 853 “non-violent ISIS” detainees from prisons across the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) “in collaboration with local sheikhs, the Syria-based Rojava Information Center reported on Saturday.

According to the center, approximately 80 percent of the released detainees were originally from Syria’s Arab-majority Deir al-Zor province. They were released “after thorough investigations proved they were not involved in violent acts as part of ISIS.”

“According to local sources, this batch is set to be the first of many, as the AANES attempts to relieve its overcrowded camps & prisons of non-violent ISIS detainees,” the Rojava Information Center tweeted.

The SDF has announced the release of 853 non-violent ISIS detainees from NES' prisons in collaboration with local sheikhs. About 80% of the detainees hail from Deir ez-Zor & were cleared after thorough investigations proved they were not involved in violent acts as part of ISIS.

— Rojava Information Center (@RojavaIC) November 27, 2021

The SDF, with the support of the United States-led coalition, continues to target ISIS sleeper cells across the regions of Syria it controls. Most of these sleeper cells are in Deir al-Zor province, which borders Iraq.

The Kurdish-led SDF is the main US ally in its campaign against ISIS in Syria. The SDF declared the complete destruction of ISIS’s self-styled caliphate when it captured the town of Baghouz from the militants, which is in Deir al-Zor, in March 2019.

SDF prisons, many of them makeshift, hold thousands of suspected ISIS members. Also, the overcrowded Al-Hol camp in Hasakah province is home to thousands of suspected ISIS members.