Biden releases 11 Guantanamo detainees captured after 9/11 to Oman for 'resettlement'

On Monday, the White House announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees, including two former bodyguards for Osama bin Laden, being held at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to Oman, which has agreed to help re-settle them, despite the US currently battling Houthi terrorists in Yemin.

The move is the latest attempt by the Biden administration to reduce the population at the military facility. The terrorists were captured following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks but were held for over twenty years without being charged or put on trial.

The Department of Defense said in a statement, "The Department of Defense announced today the resettlement of 11 Yemeni detainees from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the Government of Oman."

Later the statement added, "The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility."

The 11 detainees were identified as: Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khalid Ahmed Qassim, Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah, Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi, Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash, Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj, and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah.

According to the New York Post, Ahmed al-Alwi was an al Qaeda terrorist who was part of Osama bin Laden's security detail in Afghanistan. As recently as 2016, classified documents showed he "maintains an extremist mindset."

Anam al Sharabi, another alleged bin Laden bodyguard who was released, "may have been associated with an aborted 9/11-style hijacking in Southwest Asia led by al-Qa'ida external operations chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed."

Fox News reported that on Monday, the transfer was carried out as part of an early-morning secret operation days before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Guantanamo’s most notorious prisoner, was scheduled to plead guilty to planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in exchange for a life sentence rather the death-penalty.

The same deal, which has been in the works for approximately 3 years, was given to his co-conspirators Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and has been slammed by Republicans and 9/11 families.

It is unknown why the detainees were delivered to Oman, or what was given to the host country.

Most of the 15 remaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are from Yemin, a country now dominated by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The facility has its fewest number of inmates since it was established as a prison for "War on Terror" detainees.