Iraq has dismissed Syria’s request to repatriate some 4,000 Daesh terrorists who were transferred from Syrian detention centers into Iraqi prisoners earlier this year, stressing that those who committed crimes in Iraq must be tried under Iraqi law.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Aboudi said that a meeting had been held recently between Syria, Iraq and the United States to discuss the detainees’ fate.

Al-Aboudi told the Associated Press that Damascus had asked Baghdad to hand over the approximately 4,000 Syrian prisoners for trial in Syria, but Iraq declined.

According to the report, Iraqi authorities have found that about 400 Syrian prisoners were not members of the Daesh terrorist group and can be freed. About 50 others have already been handed over to Syria.

Meanwhile, hundreds of the Syrians still held in Iraqi jails are believed to be high-ranking members of the Daesh terrorist group.

“Iraq is conducting investigations, and anyone proved to have committed crimes in Iraq will be tried under Iraqi law,” al-Aboudi said, noting that some detainees could later be transferred to their home countries to complete their sentences.

More than 5,700 prisoners with links to Daesh, including some 4,000 Syrians, were transferred from northeast Syria to Iraq after clashes erupted in January between Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime forces and the US-sponsored, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had long took control of the detention centers where they were held.

Back then, large numbers of Daesh detainees escaped from prisons in northeastern Syria. The SDF said it lost control of a prison following attacks by HTS forces, allowing Daesh members to escape.

Analysts and regional sources have pointed to possible coordination — or at least parallel actions — involving US forces, Kurdish authorities, and Syrian factions.

The discussions about the prisoners’ fate come as the US military has completed its withdrawal from Iraq, ending more than two decades of the US-led occupation.

The US invaded Iraq in March 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein’ regime, which the US falsely accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction.

The coalition of the US and its allies withdrew their troops in December 2011, but returned in 2014 after Daesh terrorist group took large swathes of land in the country.

Jomaa al-Atwani, head of the “Ufuq” research center in Iraq, said Daesh is essentially an international conspiracy aimed at paving the way for the US return to the region.

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Al-Aboudi said Iraq has asked for financial support from the US and other member states of the alleged coalition against Daesh to help with the costs of housing the prisoners.

“Iraq asked for an allocation of $500 million. The coalition promised support, but Iraq is still waiting,” he said.

Al-Aboudi said prisoners from countries with prisoner exchange agreements with Iraq could be transferred home to complete their sentences after conviction.

Many Western countries, however, don’t want their citizens accused or convicted of Daesh ties, as well as women and children believed to be militants’ family members, back.

The request comes amid reports that Saudi Arabia has asked Syria's de facto president Abu Mohammed al-Jolani to send extremist fighters from the Syrian army to Yemen.

Citing three US officials, Axios reported Thursday that Saudi Arabia and Syria have been discussing the deployment of up to 20,000 militants to Yemen to support the Saudi-backed offensive against Yemeni armed forces.

The plan was green-lighted by the administration of US President Donald Trump and US Central Command, according to the report, with al-Jolani reportedly seriously considering the request.