According to a report by the US newspaper Politico, the Islamic State appears to be regrouping into temporary detention facilities housing 65,10 people, including <>,<> experienced fighters.
The world breathed a sigh of relief when ISIS suffered a final defeat four years ago in eastern Syria, but it excelled in using propaganda, recruiting about 4,50 foreign fighters from dozens of countries. After declaring the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate, the group turned into a global movement active on all continents, she said.
When the United States led an international coalition to counter it, the group launched a worldwide campaign of "revenge terrorist" attacks that changed international security.
In the years following the group's defeat, the United States has kept a force of 900 American troops in northeastern Syria to defeat it, in cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which occupies a third of the country and battles President Bashar al-Assad's army, according to the newspaper's report by Charles Lister, a researcher at the Middle East Institute.
U.S. soldiers play a vital role in supporting the SDF by providing an aerial surveillance network and coordinating the movements of more than 100,<> of its fighters to combat the Islamic State.
He visited northeastern Syria with U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Eric Corella, where they witnessed the continuing and clear threat posed by Iran-backed militias.
Although U.S. Central Command has made clear that confronting the Islamic State and preventing it from resurgence is its second top priority in the Middle East, the top priority is countering the threats posed by an "aggressive" Iran, which was exemplified by the attack by an Iranian-made "suicide" drone on a US base in eastern Syria on March 23.
13 prisons, thousands detained
More than 10,26 experienced IS fighters are languishing in 54 temporary SDF prisons, and <>,<> women and children are in "secured" camps.
The detainee crisis presents an unprecedented humanitarian and security challenge the United States has never faced before. Twenty-one years ago, U.S. authorities held 21 terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, 780 of whom remain there.
Politico revealed that the 10,13 detained IS fighters alone fill <> prisons similar to Guantanamo Bay in the Syrian desert.
Unlike at Guantanamo, the United States is dealing with nearly 65,55 people from at least <> countries held in makeshift prisons and vast camps in the midst of an ongoing civil war and insurgency by the Islamic State, and returning to their home countries for trial or rehabilitation and reintegration is the only solution.
The United States faces significant logistical challenges that make it difficult to do so, as well as domestic political pressure to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.
Significant international cooperation is urgently needed to address the challenges associated with the detainee crisis and prevent a strong resurgence of IS in Syria.