And This is How It Starts - ISSI Makes Threats Against Iraqi Guards

 

Iraq Faces a Harrowing Test as ISIS Detainees Turn Threats Into Chills

In a stark reminder that the specter of ISIS has not faded, Iraqi forces now find themselves confronting a peril not on the battlefield, but on the transfer, routes moving captured militants into Iraq’s hands. Security sources confirm that prisoners — believed to be predominantly members of the extremist ISIS network — have issued chilling threats against their captors during recent transfers from northeastern Syria to Iraqi detention facilities. (Arab News)

Under a previously agreed arrangement with Washington and the U.S.-led coalition combating ISIS, Iraq has taken on the immense task of relocating thousands of detainees from camps and prisons held by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria’s unstable northeast. The aim: to forestall mass jailbreaks after unrest flared in those camps last month, threatening to unleash fighters back into an already volatile region. (Arab News)

But what was intended as a transfer of custody has become a demonstration of lingering danger. Iraqi guards and soldiers say that as they escorted the shackled prisoners, some men spat curses and violent threats, hissing ominously: “We will kill you when we escape from prison.” Those words — uttered through shackles and blindfolds — struck deeply, indicating that the group’s brutal ideology remains intact even behind bars. (Arab News)

Baghdad has portrayed this massive transfer as a preemptive, security-driven move. A high-level committee, backed by Iraq’s National Security Council, has been tasked with overseeing every aspect of the operation, from logistics to judicial processing. (Arab News)

So far, Iraqi officials say roughly 2,250 militants have been brought into the country under this program, flown or driven across the border in tightly secured convoys in coordination with coalition forces. Once inside Iraq, they are being held in fortified facilities supervised by elite units. (Arab News)

Authorities have already begun sorting detainees by risk level and moving ahead with judicial classification. Iraq’s judiciary has opened investigations into more than 1,300 ISIS-linked individuals who arrived from Syria, while the broader security apparatus prepares to launch prosecutions under Iraqi counterterrorism laws. (Arab News)

For Iraqi guards and commanders, these threats serve as a grim warning: the battle against ISIS may have lost its territorial frontlines, but its ferocity — and the resolve of its fighters — continues to echo within prison walls. (Arab News)