ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdish authorities of north and east Syria on Monday released 50 Syrian nationals who had been charged with ties to the Islamic State (ISIS) after pardoning them. 

Thousands of detainees of various nationalities suspected to be related to ISIS have been held behind the bars in prisons run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). 

The release of the ISIS-linked detainees was done as part of a general amnesty decision taken by the Kurdish authorities in mid-July this year, according to ANF, a media outlet close to the ruling Kurdish authorities of the northern Syrian Kurdish enclave.

This is the second group to be released and around 1,500 detainees are expected to benefit from the general amnesty, a local Kurdish official has told AFP.

The previous group numbering over 300 were released in early August.

The amnesty deal only applies to "Syrians and does not include foreigners, and is limited to those whose hands are not stained with blood,” AFP has quoted the source saying. “No one who participated in the fighting will be released.”

Another batch of the detainees is expected to be released in the coming days.

The release of the ISIS-linked detainees has previously worried the Iraqi government,  forcing them to deploy additional troops in the western and northern parts of the country.

The release of ISIS-linked prisoners comes at a time when the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) warned in a statement in mid-July that the extremist group has significantly increased its attacks in Iraq and Syria in 2024.

In the first half of 2024, ISIS claimed responsibility for 153 attacks in the region, more than double the total number of attacks in 2023. The surge indicates a significant attempt by ISIS to rebuild its capabilities after several years of decline.

In response, CENTCOM, in collaboration with the Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has conducted 196 missions aimed at defeating ISIS. 

The operations, which took place from January to June 2024, resulted in the death of 44 ISIS operatives and the detention of 166 others.

In Iraq, 137 joint operations led to the killing of 30 ISIS operatives and the detention of 74. In Syria, 59 missions conducted with the SDF and other partners resulted in 14 ISIS operatives killed and 92 detained.

ISIS took control of swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territories in 2014, announcing their so-called caliphate with the city of Mosul as its capital, until Iraqi, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and Syrian Kurdish forces, with assistance from the US-led coalition forces regained control of the taken territories in 2017 and 2019, announcing the group as territorially defeated.

However, the group still conducts occasional hit-and-run attacks and ambushes in several Iraqi territories, specifically areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, and regions they had once controlled in north and east Syria.