A government source: Feeding ISIS prisoners costs approximately $25 million annually from Iraq’s budget.
A government source: Feeding ISIS prisoners costs approximately $25 million annually from Iraq’s budget.
2026-01-24 01:46
Shafaq News – Baghdad
A government source predicted on Saturday that the costs of feeding the ISIS detainees who will be transferred from Syrian prisons will amount to about $25 million from the Iraqi budget.
A government source told Shafaq News Agency that the cost of feeding the detainees, who are seven thousand ISIS members, whom Iraq will receive successively, is approximately 33 billion Iraqi dinars, equivalent to 25 million US dollars annually.
Earlier this morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein stressed the importance of Iraq not bearing the security and financial burdens resulting from the transfer of ISIS prisoners from Syria to the country.
This came during his meeting with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaya Kallas, according to a statement issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The US Central Command announced on Wednesday that its forces had transferred 150 ISIS detainees from a detention facility in Syria’s Hasakah province to Iraq, citing concerns that none of the detainees might escape.
A US official predicted that his country’s military would complete the transfer of up to 7,000 ISIS detainees from prisons in Syria to Iraq in the coming days, while Reuters quoted the official as saying that hundreds would be transferred across the border daily.
A source revealed to Shafaq News Agency last Wednesday that the transfer of detainees from prisons in northeastern Syria to Iraq includes elements classified as “first-line” in extremist organizations, including leaders in ISIS and others linked to al-Qaeda, some of whose files date back to early years since 2005.
He added that some of them were involved in car bombings, killings and “slaughter” operations, noting that the detainees are of various nationalities, including Chechens, Afghans and Europeans, in addition to Egyptians, Sudanese and Somalis.
shafaq.com
