Morocco is preparing a targeted plan to repatriate nationals who fought for Islamic State and were transferred by the U.S. to Iraqi detention following the collapse of SDF-held facilities in Syria. The U.S. moved about 5,700 adult male IS detainees to Iraq, prompting calls by Baghdad for countries to retrieve their citizens. Moroccan officials provided counts of fighters, women and children still in the region and pointed to past repatriations and prosecutions as precedent.
Morocco Drafts Plan to Repatriate IS-Linked Nationals Held in Iraq, Official Says
FILE PHOTO: Syrian Democratic Forces vehicles withdraw from the front lines following an agreement between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Hasakah, Syria February 10, 2026. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
RABAT, March 12 (Reuters) - Morocco is preparing an action plan to repatriate its citizens who fought for the Islamic State (IS) and were moved by the United States into detention facilities in Iraq, a senior Moroccan security official said on Thursday.
The relocations followed the collapse of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had been guarding roughly a dozen facilities holding IS fighters and affiliated civilians — including foreign nationals. In January the U.S. began transferring detained IS members out of Syria; U.S. Central Command said last month the U.S. military completed its mission in Syria after moving about 5,700 adult male IS detainees to Iraq.
Rabat Developing a Targeted Repatriation Plan
A security official close to the matter told Reuters that Morocco "is currently developing an action plan on this matter ... taking into consideration the diversity of the population targeted by the procedure, namely the fighters, as well as the women who lived in the SDF camps in Syria, in addition to their children." The official said the plan will account for the different legal, security and humanitarian needs of each group.
Numbers and Whereabouts
The official provided detailed figures on Moroccans involved in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq: there were 1,667 Moroccan foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq in total. Of those, 244 were detained in prisons controlled by the SDF in northeastern Syria, and 279 former fighters have already returned to Morocco.
On the civilian side, the official said 269 Moroccan women remain in the conflict zone along with 627 minors. Separately, 134 women and 354 children are currently held in SDF-run camps in northeastern Syria. Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, 125 women have been repatriated to Morocco.
Past Repatriations and Legal Measures
Rabat has prior experience with repatriation: in March 2019 Morocco brought back eight fighters who had been detained by the SDF. They were tried in Morocco and are serving sentences ranging from 13 to 18 years on terrorism charges. Under Moroccan law, joining jihadist groups abroad can carry a prison term of up to 10 years.
Morocco's counter-terrorism agency, the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), has said that IS branches in Africa recruited more than 130 Moroccan fighters in recent years. Since its establishment in 2015, the BCIJ has dismantled dozens of militant cells and arrested more than 1,000 suspected jihadists.
"We are developing an action plan that differentiates between fighters, women and children and addresses security and humanitarian dimensions," the official said.
Baghdad has urged Muslim and Western countries to repatriate their nationals since the transfers began. Moroccan authorities have indicated they are evaluating legal, security and social-reintegration measures as part of any repatriation effort.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by William Maclean)
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