美国中央司令部直升机行动与外交斡旋将囚犯转移至巴格达附近设施，此前叙利亚混乱局势威胁到越狱发生
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
独家报道：官员称，这起越狱事件本可能一夜之间改变该地区乃至整个世界的格局。
近6000名被关押的”伊斯兰国”（ISIS）囚犯，被美国一名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。由于冲突和不稳定局势威胁到由库尔德人领导的叙利亚民主力量（SDF）——负责看守这些武装分子并防止ISIS死灰复燃的守卫力量，美国官员认为，若监狱在混乱中崩溃，后果将立竿见影。
“如果这6000人左右逃出来并重返战场，基本上就等于ISIS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，该官员一步步向福克斯新闻数字版披露了将数千名ISIS囚犯转移出叙利亚并移交伊拉克羁押的幕后行动，描述了一场历时数周的多机构紧急行动，包括情报预警、快速外交斡旋和迅速的军事撤离。
[美军方称对叙利亚境内ISIS目标发动空袭]
ISIS武装分子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，而男性战斗人员则被转移至伊拉克，导致拘留危机悬而未决。（圣地亚哥·蒙塔格/阿纳多卢通讯社通过盖蒂图片社提供）
该官员解释说，这一风险已累积数月。10月底，国家情报局局长塔尔西·加巴德（Tulsi Gabbard）开始评估叙利亚局势可能滑向混乱，从而为灾难性越狱创造条件。
当时，国家情报局（ODNI）派该官员前往叙利亚和伊拉克，开始与SDF和伊拉克政府进行早期讨论，以在局势失控前转移这些被该官员反复描述为最危险的囚犯。
1月初，阿勒颇爆发战斗并向东蔓延，这些担忧进一步加剧。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，”该官员表示。
[美国宣布对ISIS采取更多军事行动：’我们不会松懈’]
2014年6月23日，一名”伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国”（ISIL）武装分子在摩苏尔街头手持ISIL旗帜和武器。（路透社照片）
据消息人士透露，随着局势升级，国家情报局（ODNI）监督了跨部门的每日协调会议。该官员称，国务卿马尔科·卢比奥（Marco Rubio）正在”管理日常政策考量”，而国家情报局则推动一个工作组，确保中央司令部、外交官和情报官员就关键问题达成一致：如何防止近6000名ISIS武装分子滑入战争迷雾。
该官员表示，伊拉克政府明白其中的利害关系。巴格达方面有自身的紧迫性考量，担心数千名囚犯逃脱后会越过边境，重新燃起伊拉克仍刻骨铭心的威胁。
该官员直言不讳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ISIS兵临城下”的局面。
美国驻巴格达大使馆在为这项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。该官员称赞中央司令部调动资源，使这一计划得以在地面实施，称”动用直升机和其他资产”使囚犯能在压缩的时间内被转移。
“多亏了这些努力……动用直升机、更多资源，并在后勤上确保行动成功，我们才得以在短短几周内将这近6000人转移出去，”该官员说道。
[叙利亚越狱后ISIS武装分子仍逍遥法外，安全局势持续紧张]
2026年1月21日，叙利亚哈塞克省，霍尔难民营（Hol Camp）的景象，该营地关押着与极端组织伊斯兰国有关联的人员。（伊兹·阿尔丁·阿尔卡萨姆/阿纳多卢通讯社通过盖蒂图片社提供）
该官员表示，SDF一直负责监狱安全，但他们的注意力因其他地区的战斗而分散，这加剧了美国对单一缺口可能引发大规模越狱的担忧。最终，囚犯被转运至伊拉克，目前由伊拉克当局关押在巴格达国际机场附近的一处设施中。
该官员称，下一阶段的重点是身份识别和问责。他表示，联邦调查局（FBI）小组已在伊拉克对囚犯进行生物特征登记，而美伊官员正在研究哪些情报可解密并用于起诉。
“他们基本向我们请求的是，提供我们掌握的关于这些人员的尽可能多的情报和信息，”该官员说道。”所以目前的首要任务是对这些人员进行生物特征识别。”
该官员还表示，国务院正推动原籍国对其公民被关押在囚犯中的情况承担责任。
“国务院目前正在开展外交工作，鼓励这些不同国家前来接回他们的战斗人员，”他说。
虽然此次转移严格针对ISIS武装分子，但这位高级情报官员表示，诸如霍尔难民营等营地中被关押的家属并未参与此次行动，留下了重大的安全和人道挑战悬而未决。
[ISIS利用叙利亚混乱局势，美军打击行动凸显威胁加剧]
2019年3月23日，在叙利亚巴古兹油田举行的叙利亚民主力量（SDF）宣布击败ISIL的胜利仪式上，SDF战士与美国国旗合影。（克里斯·麦克格拉思/盖蒂图片社）
该官员解释说，这些难民营由单独安排管理，且随着地面控制权的变化，责任也在转移。
根据该官员的说法，叙利亚民主力量和叙利亚政府达成协议，大马士革将接管霍尔难民营，该营地关押着数千名与ISIS有关联的妇女和儿童。
“从社交媒体上可以看到，霍尔难民营几乎已被清空，”该官员补充道，称”似乎叙利亚政府已决定释放他们”，而这一情况被该官员描述为对地区安全”深感不安”。”这非常令人担忧。”
反恐官员长期以来一直认为，这些家属的命运是ISIS拘留系统中最复杂、未解决的部分之一。许多儿童在ISIS失去领土控制权后在难民营长大，其中一些人已接近战斗年龄，引发了对未来极端化和招募的担忧。
[点击此处下载福克斯新闻应用程序]
2015年7月26日，伊拉克安全部队在安巴尔大学展示从那里缴获的ISIS旗帜。部队在校园内与ISIS武装分子发生冲突。（路透社）
目前，该官员表示，情报机构正在密切跟踪事态发展，在他们看来，这次快速行动成功阻止了数千名经验丰富的ISIS武装分子同时重返战场，可能重新点燃该组织的战斗力。
“这是叙利亚局势中罕见的好消息，”该官员总结道。
埃弗拉特·拉赫特是福克斯新闻数字版的国际事务和联合国记者。在X平台（原推特）关注她：@efratlachter。新闻线索可发送至efrat.lachter@fox.com。
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6388392477112
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
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 be 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 the official 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. The official said 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 6000 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, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026.(Izz Aldien Alqasem/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The SDF, he said, 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, the official said, 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 official said 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,” he said.
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 (SDF) fighters pose for a photo with the American flag on stage after a SDF victory ceremony announcing the defeat of ISIL in Baghouz was held at Omer Oil Field 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.
[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP]
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.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6388392477112
