The Pentagon has transferred 11 Yemeni men to Oman after holding them without charge for over two decades at Guantanamo Bay, the BBC reported. 

The removal of the men marks the most significant release under the Biden administration's push to reduce detainee numbers at the facility just days ahead of the return of Donald Trump, among a raft of other last-minute decisions made by the outgoing Democrat president. 

The transfer reduces the detainee population to 15, the lowest since 2002, when the facility began housing suspects in the US "war on terror" following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Pentagon said in what appears to be the quiet winding down of the facility, which Cuba opposes. 

“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 US Department of Defence said in a statement. 

Among those released was Shaqawi al-Hajj, who had conducted repeated hunger strikes in protest against his 21-year imprisonment, which followed two years of detention and torture in CIA custody, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Oman, a Western ally on the Arabian Peninsula, has previously accepted around 30 Guantanamo detainees but has not acknowledged receiving this latest group.

Previous detainees transferred to Oman have since been released under unexplained circumstances, with two Afghans returning to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in February.

Rights group CAGE International reported that 26 former detainees and their families had returned to Yemen after receiving $70,000 compensation from the Omani government. One Yemeni detainee died in Oman before potential repatriation.

The facility now holds six never-charged detainees, two convicted prisoners and seven others charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks, the USS Cole bombing, and the 2002 Bali bombings.

At its peak, Guantanamo held approximately 800 detainees, predominantly Muslim men captured in US military and covert operations worldwide.

The US gained control of Guantánamo Bay in 1903 under a lease agreement following the Spanish-American War and the Platt Amendment, which gave the US significant influence over Cuba’s pre-revolutionary government.

The US-led agreement stipulated a perpetual lease unless both countries agreed to its termination, which the Communist Cuban government has stated no longer stands, as it was negotiated under duress.