CENTCOM直升机行动与外交努力将被拘留者转移至巴格达附近设施，此前叙利亚局势混乱引发越狱威胁
作者：埃弗拉特·拉赫特（Efrat Lachter）、特雷·英格斯（Trey Yingst）
福克斯新闻
发布时间：2026年2月18日美国东部时间晚上8:34 | 更新时间：2026年2月19日美国东部时间上午8:12
[分析师警告：”伊斯兰国”或可利用叙利亚权力转移再度崛起]
随着叙利亚东北部库尔德人控制的崩溃，分析师布莱恩·卡特解释了为何糟糕的拘留记录和仓促释放可能会让”伊斯兰国”在权力过渡期间获得重组的机会。
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独家报道：这是官员们称可能在一夜之间改变该地区乃至整个世界的越狱事件。
近6000名”伊斯兰国”被拘留者，被一位美国高级情报官员描述为”最坏中的最坏分子”，当时正被关押在叙利亚北部。由于冲突和不稳定威胁到由库尔德人领导的叙利亚民主力量（SDF）——负责将武装分子关押以防止其令人恐惧的卷土重来的守卫部队，美国官员认为如果监狱在混乱中崩溃，后果将立竿见影。
“如果这6000人左右逃脱并重返战场，基本上就是’伊斯兰国’的立即重组，”这位高级情报官员告诉福克斯新闻数字版。
在一次独家采访中，这位官员一步步向福克斯新闻数字版描述了将数千名”伊斯兰国”被拘留者从叙利亚转移到伊拉克拘留中心的幕后行动，称这是一个多机构在数周内展开的紧急行动，包括情报预警、快速外交和迅速军事撤离。
[美国军方对叙利亚境内”伊斯兰国”目标发动空袭，官员称]
“伊斯兰国”的妻子和孩子仍被关押在大马士革控制下的”脆弱”叙利亚拘留营中，而男性战斗人员则转移到伊拉克，这使得拘留危机仍未解决。（圣地亚哥·蒙塔格/阿纳多卢通讯社通过盖蒂图片社提供）
这位官员解释说，这种风险已经累积了数月。10月底，国家情报局局长图尔西·加巴德开始评估，认为叙利亚的权力过渡可能滑向混乱，并为灾难性越狱创造条件。
国家情报局当时派遣代表前往叙利亚和伊拉克，开始与叙利亚民主力量（SDF）和伊拉克政府进行初步讨论，如何在局势失控前转移这位官员多次描述为最危险的被拘留者。
1月初，阿勒颇爆发战斗并开始向东蔓延，这些担忧加剧。防止灾难的时间正在流逝。
“我们看到了这种严重的危机形势，”这位官员说。
[美国宣布对”伊斯兰国”采取更多军事行动：”我们不会松懈”]
2014年6月23日，伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国（ISIL）一名武装分子在摩苏尔市街头举着ISIL旗帜和武器。（路透社照片）
据消息来源称，随着局势升级，国家情报局监督各机构间的每日协调会议。国务卿马尔科·卢比奥（Marco Rubio）”负责日常”政策考量，而国家情报局则推动一个工作组，使中央司令部（CENTCOM）、外交官和情报官员就一个紧迫问题达成一致：如何防止近6000名”伊斯兰国”武装分子滑入战争迷雾。
这位官员说，伊拉克政府明白这一利害关系。巴格达有自己的快速行动理由，担心数千名被拘留者逃脱后会越境并重现伊拉克仍记忆犹新的威胁。
这位官员直率地描述了伊拉克的动机：领导人意识到大规模越狱可能迫使伊拉克重新陷入”2014年’伊斯兰国’再次逼近边境”的局面。
美国驻巴格达大使馆在为这一重大后勤行动铺平外交道路方面发挥了关键作用。
随后是实际撤离行动。这位官员称赞中央司令部紧急调集资源，使计划在地面得以实施，称”通过直升机和其他资源快速转移”使被拘留者在压缩的时间内被撤离。
“多亏了这些努力…通过直升机运送和更多资源，以及后勤安排，我们在短短几周内就将这近6000人转移完毕，”这位官员说。
[叙利亚监狱越狱后”伊斯兰国”武装分子仍逍遥法外，加剧安全局势动荡]
2026年1月21日，叙利亚哈塞克省霍勒营地（Hol Camp）——与”伊斯兰国”有关联的家庭被关押在此——的场景。（伊兹·阿尔丁·阿尔卡塞姆/阿纳多卢通讯社通过盖蒂图片社提供）
叙利亚民主力量（SDF）一直负责监狱安全，但由于其他地区的战斗分散了其注意力，美国担心一旦监狱被突破可能会引发大规模越狱。最终，被拘留者被运往伊拉克，目前由伊拉克当局关押在巴格达国际机场附近的一个设施中。
这位官员说，下一阶段的重点是身份识别和问责。FBI小组已在伊拉克对被拘留者进行生物识别登记，而美国和伊拉克官员正在审查哪些情报可以解密并用于起诉。
“他们基本上要求我们提供关于这些个人的尽可能多的情报和信息，”这位官员说。”所以目前的重点是对这些人进行生物识别身份确认。”
国务院也在推动原籍国对其公民被关押在拘留者中的情况负责。
福克斯新闻了解到，国务院目前正在开展外交工作，鼓励不同国家来认领他们的战斗人员。
虽然这次转移严格针对”伊斯兰国”武装分子，但高级情报官员表示，像霍勒（al-Hol）这样的难民营中关押的家庭不在此次行动范围内，这留下了一个重大未解决的安全和人道主义挑战。
[分析：”伊斯兰国”利用叙利亚混乱，美军打击行动暴露威胁加剧]
2019年3月23日，在叙利亚巴古兹市宣布击败ISIL的胜利仪式上，叙利亚民主力量（SDF）战士与美国国旗合影。（克里斯·麦克格拉思/盖蒂图片社）
这位官员说，这些难民营本身有单独的安排，随着当地控制权的变化，责任也随之转移。
根据这位官员的说法，叙利亚民主力量和叙利亚政府达成协议，大马士革将接管霍勒难民营，该难民营关押着数千名与”伊斯兰国”有关联的妇女和儿童。
“正如您从社交媒体上看到的，霍勒难民营几乎已经空了，”这位官员补充道，称”似乎叙利亚政府已决定释放她们”，而这种情况对地区安全构成了严重担忧。”这非常令人担忧。”
反恐官员长期以来一直认为，这些家庭的命运是”伊斯兰国”拘留系统中最复杂、最未解决的部分之一。许多儿童在”伊斯兰国”失去领土控制权后在难民营长大，其中一些人现在已接近战斗年龄，引发了对未来激进主义和招募的担忧。
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2015年7月26日，伊拉克安全部队在安巴尔大学缴获一面”伊斯兰国”旗帜。安全部队与大学内的”伊斯兰国”武装分子发生冲突。（路透社）
目前，这位官员表示，情报机构正在密切跟踪局势发展。在他们看来，这次快速行动成功防止了数千名经验丰富的”伊斯兰国”武装分子同时重返战场，可能重新点燃该组织的战斗力。
“这是叙利亚罕见的好消息，”这位官员总结道。
埃弗拉特·拉赫特是福克斯新闻数字版国际事务和联合国记者。在X平台（原推特）关注她@efratlachter。可将新闻线索发送至efrat.lachter@fox.com。
US thwarted near-catastrophic prison break of 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria
CENTCOM helicopters and diplomatic efforts moved detainees to facility near Baghdad as Syrian chaos threatened jailbreak
By Efrat Lachter, Trey Yingst
Fox News
Published February 18, 2026 8:34pm EST | Updated February 19, 2026 8:12am EST
[ISIS could exploit Syria power shift, analyst warns]
As Kurdish control collapses in northeast Syria, analyst Brian Carter explains how poor detention records and rushed releases could give ISIS a window to regroup during the transition.
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EXCLUSIVE: This was the kind of prison break officials say could have changed the region, and perhaps even the world, overnight.
Nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees, described by a senior U.S. intelligence official as “the worst of the worst,” were being held in northern Syria as clashes and instability threatened the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the guards responsible for keeping the militants locked away and preventing a feared ISIS resurgence. U.S. officials believed that if the prisons collapsed in the chaos, the consequences would have been immediate.
“If these 6,000 or so got out and returned to the battlefield, that would basically be the instant reconstitution of ISIS,” the senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital.
In an exclusive interview, the official walked Fox News Digital step by step through the behind-the-scenes operation that moved thousands of ISIS detainees out of Syria and into Iraqi custody, describing a multi-agency scramble that unfolded over weeks, with intelligence warnings, rapid diplomacy and a swift military lift.
[US MILITARY LAUNCHES AIRSTRIKES AGAINST ISIS TARGETS IN SYRIA, OFFICIALS SAY]
ISIS wives and children remain in “fragile” Syrian detention camps under Damascus control while male fighters transfer to Iraq, leaving detention crisis unresolved.(Santiago Montag/Anadolu via Getty Image)
The risk, the official explained, had been building for months. In late October, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard began to assess that Syria’s transition could tip into disorder and create the conditions for a catastrophic jailbreak.
The ODNI sent representatives to Syria and Iraq at that time to begin early discussions with both the SDF and the Iraqi government about how to remove what the official repeatedly described as the most dangerous detainees before events overtook them.
Those fears sharpened in early January as fighting erupted in Aleppo and began spreading eastward.Time was running out to prevent catastrophe.”We saw this severe crisis situation,” the official said.
[U.S. ANNOUNCES MORE MILITARY ACTIONS AGAINST ISIS: ‘WE WILL NOT RELENT’]
A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014.(Reuters Photo)
According to the source, the ODNI oversaw daily coordination calls across agencies as the situation escalated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “managing the day to day” on policy considerations, while the ODNI drove a working group that kept CENTCOM, diplomats and intelligence officials aligned on the urgent question: how to keep nearly 6,000 ISIS fighters from slipping into the fog of war.
The Iraqi government, the official said, understood the stakes. Baghdad had its own reasons to move quickly, fearing that if thousands of detainees escaped, they would spill across the border and revive a threat Iraq still remembers in visceral terms.
The official described Iraq’s motivation bluntly: leaders recognized that a massive breakout could force Iraq back into a “2014 ISIS is on our border situation once more.”
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the official said, played a pivotal role in smoothing the diplomatic runway for what would become a major logistical undertaking.
Then came the physical lift. The official credited CENTCOM’s surge of resources to make the plan real on the ground, saying that “moving in helicopters” and other assets enabled detainees to be removed in a compressed timeframe.
“Thanks to the efforts… moving in helicopters, moving in more resources, and then just logistically making this happen, we were able to get these nearly 6,000 out in the course of just a few weeks,” the official said.
[ISIS FIGHTERS STILL AT LARGE AFTER SYRIAN PRISON BREAK, CONTRIBUTING TO VOLATILE SECURITY SITUATION]
A view of Hol Camp, where families linked to the Islamic State group are being held, in Hasakah province, Syria, Jan. 21, 2026.(Izz Aldien Alqasem/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The SDF, had been securing the prisons, but its attention was strained by fighting elsewhere, fueling U.S. fears that a single breach could spiral into a mass escape. Ultimately, detainees were transported into Iraq, where they are now held at a facility near Baghdad International Airport under Iraqi authority.
The next phase, the official said, is focused on identification and accountability. FBI teams are in Iraq enrolling detainees biometrically, while U.S. and Iraqi officials examine what intelligence can be declassified and used in prosecutions.
“What they were asking us for, basically, is giving them as much intelligence and information that we have on these individuals,” the official said. “So right now, the priority is on biometrically identifying these individuals.”
The State Department is also pushing countries of origin to take responsibility for their citizens held among the detainees.
State Department is doing outreach right now and encouraging all these different countries to come and pick up their fighters, Fox News has learned.
While the transfer focused strictly on ISIS fighters, the senior intelligence official said families held in camps such as al-Hol were not part of the operation, leaving a major unresolved security and humanitarian challenge.
[ISIS EXPLOITING SYRIA’S CHAOS AS US STRIKES EXPOSE GROWING THREAT]
Syrian Democratic Forces fighters pose for a photo with the American flag after a victory ceremony announcing the defeat of ISIL on March 23, 2019, in Baghouz, Syria.(Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The camps themselves were under separate arrangements, the official said, and responsibility shifted as control on the ground evolved.
According to the official, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian government reached an understanding that Damascus would take over the al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of ISIS-affiliated women and children.
“As you can see from social media, the al-Hol camp is pretty much being emptied out,” the official said, adding that it “appears the Syrian government has decided to let them go free,” a scenario the official described as deeply troubling for regional security. “That is very concerning.”
The fate of the families has long been viewed by counterterrorism officials as one of the most complicated, unresolved elements of the ISIS detention system. Many of the children have grown up in camps after ISIS lost territorial control, and some are now approaching fighting age, raising fears about future radicalization and recruitment.
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Iraqi security forces pose with ISIS flag, which they pulled from University of Anbar on July 26, 2015. Forces clashed with ISIS militants inside the compound.(Reuters)
For now, the official said, intelligence agencies are closely tracking developments after a rapid operation that, in their view, prevented thousands of experienced ISIS militants from reentering the battlefield at once and potentially reigniting the group’s fighting force.
“This is a rare good news story coming out of Syria,” the official concluded.
Efrat Lachter is a world reporter for Fox News Digital covering international affairs and the United Nations. Follow her on X @efratlachter. Stories can be sent to efrat.lachter@fox.com.
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