Top Iraqi security official calls for repatriation of foreign ISIS nationals after Syria jailbreak 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji called for the repatriation and prosecution of foreign nationals affiliated with ISIS by their countries following the jailbreak in northeast Syria.

Al-Araji’s remarks came during his meeting with representatives from NATO, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway in Iraq on Monday.

The security official stressed the need for prosecuting the foreign ISIS members in their respective countries.

According to al-Araji’s estimate, more than 10,000 ISIS members from over 50 countries are currently being held in Qasd Prison in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province.

“They pose a real threat to the region and the world,” the advisor tweeted.

Recently, hundreds of ISIS fighters attacked the al-Ghuwayran Prison in Syria, sparking a week of intense fighting with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the US-led coalition. The fate of 400 prisoners who escaped is presently unknown.

Attracted by its extremist ideology, thousands of foreign nationals joined ISIS, which ruled large swathes of Iraq and Syria for more than three years.

The fighters’ countries are unwilling to take back the extremists, believing it would be risky to reintegrate them into their societies.

Kurdish officials from northeast Syria have previously called for the repatriation of the militants, warning that northeast Syria does not have the resources or adequate prison facilities to detain them indefinitely.