Dozens of inmates from a jail holding Islamic State prisoners have been freed in Syria amid clashes between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and government-affiliated forces in the north-east of the country.
Videos released by the SDF showed what it said were IS members being broken out from a jail in Shaddadi by figures in black balaclavas, saying it had lost control of the building after an attack by government-affiliated fighters that killed or wounded dozens.
The Syrian army confirmed the escape late on Monday and imposed a total curfew in Shaddadi, state news agency Sana reported. It denied attacking the jail and blamed the SDF for the escapes, saying it would comb the city in search of the militants.
The clashes came less than 24 hours after Syria’s president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, said his government had agreed a ceasefire with the SDF and would move to dismantle the group’s decade-long control of the country’s north-east and dramatically consolidate his rule.
The sudden defeat of the SDF in Syria’s north raises questions about its ability to retain control of prisons and camps housing tens of thousands of male and female supporters of IS.
Fighting was also reported outside al-Aqtan prison in formerly SDF-held Raqqa, and two others in the city – Taameer and a juvenile detention centre – were said by Kurdish sources to have been emptied by locals. The Syrian army said it had arrived at al-Aqtan to secure it “despite the presence of SDF forces inside”.
Many other IS detainees, originally from 70 countries including the UK, are held further to the north-east in Kurdish majority areas, where many have been detained since the territorial defeat of the terror group in 2019.
The bulk of female detainees and their families are being held in al-Hawl, which holds an estimated 26,000 people, and the smaller Roj camp, where Shamima Begum is housed, while about 4,500 men are held at the Panorama or Gweiran prison.
It remains unclear who freed the prisoners in Shaddadi. The SDF claimed the armed men involved were “Damascus factions” and that several of its fighters were beheaded.
It said in a statement that the US-led anti-IS coalition did not respond despite repeated appeals for assistance to a nearby coalition base. The US military’s central command did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Kurdish-led forces backed by the US rounded up tens of thousands of people linked to IS after the group’s defeat. Washington later left responsibility for the camps to its Kurdish allies, but as US troops scale back, pressure is growing for Syria’s new authorities to take over.
According to the text of the deal between the SDF and Damascus, the administration responsible for the IS prisoners and camps, as well as the forces securing them, is to be integrated with the Syrian government, which will assume “full legal and security responsibility” for these facilities.
But the plan, also part of efforts to fold the Kurdish-led SDF into a reunified national military, is fraught with mistrust as many Kurds fear the government, led by Islamist former rebels once linked to al-Qaida, could loosen controls on IS networks.
Among the prisoners and detainees are an estimated 55 men, women and children from the UK, including Begum, many of whom have had their citizenship removed because of their IS links.
Reprieve, a UK-based human rights campaign group, said the current situation was “a reality check” for Britain’s refusal to repatriate people held in Syria. Other countries, including the US, which has repatriated 28 people, have gradually brought back many of their citizens who were otherwise held in indefinite detention.
Maya Foa, the chief executive of Reprieve, said “volatility of the current situation demands an urgent rethink” and that “the only safe thing to do is bring British nationals home and prosecute the adults where there is a case to answer”.
Al-Sharaa’s jihadist career was forged in post-invasion Iraq, where he was drawn into al-Qaida’s orbit through its Iraqi affiliate and precursor of IS. Detained by the US in 2005, he deepened his militant ties and encountered Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would later dispatch him to Syria to set up Jabhat al-Nusra.
The group rose quickly but split from Baghdadi in 2013, prompting Sharaa to first align openly with al-Qaida before severing that link in 2016 to present a more locally rooted insurgency that would ultimately become Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Since toppling Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Syria’s new leaders have struggled to assert full authority over the country. An agreement was reached in March that was to have merged the SDF with Damascus, but it did not gain traction as both sides accused each other of violating the deal.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an – long hostile to the SDF – on Monday hailed the Syrian army for what he called its “careful” offensive to take over Kurdish-held areas of the country’s northeast.
“The Syrian army’s careful management of this sensitive operation … is commendable. Despite provocations, the Syrian army has passed a successful test, avoiding actions that would put them in the wrong when they are in the right,” he said.
Turkey sees the SDF as an extension of the Kurdish militant PKK and a major threat along the 900km (550-mile) border it shares with Syria.
“The principle of one state, one army is indispensable for stability,” said Erdo?an, describing the ceasefire and the integration agreement as “a very important achievement for lasting peace and stability in Syria”.
He urged the deal to be implemented as soon as possible, saying there was “no excuse for stalling or playing for time. The era of terror in our region is over. No one should miscalculate.”
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