Iraq arrests suspected head of ISIS women’s prisons

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi forces on Friday announced the arrest of a woman they suspect was responsible for Islamic State (ISIS) women’s prisons in Nineveh province. 

The General Directorate of Intelligence and Security, which is affiliated with the defence ministry, said in a statement that they arrested a woman who was “responsible for managing women’s prisons” and deciding whether or not a woman was loyal to the terror group in Nineveh. 

ISIS seized control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land in 2014, including most of Nineveh province. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017. 

Iraqi forces regularly announce arrests of ISIS suspects, but rarely are they women. 

The United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said in mid-July that at least 44 suspected ISIS members were killed and 166 others detained in operations with local forces in Iraq and Syria during the first six months of 2024.

Baghdad has this year downgraded the threat that ISIS poses, saying that the group has been confined. 

While the group lacks any territorial presence on the ground, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions in both Iraq and Syria.