Syrian military accuses Kurdish forces of allowing IS-linked detainees to escape

Qamishli (Syria): The Syrian military on January 20 claimed that guards from the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had withdrawn from the al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, enabling detainees affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) to escape.

The camp primarily houses women and children of IS members or those accused of affiliation with the group, while IS militants are held separately in prisons across the northeast.

The SDF confirmed that its guards had redeployed from the camp, blaming “international indifference toward the issue of the ISIS terrorist organization and the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing this serious matter.” The group said its forces were repositioned to cities in northern Syria facing increasing threats from government forces.

Earlier on Tuesday, Syria’s Ministry of Interior reported that 120 IS members had escaped from a prison in northeast Syria during clashes between government forces and the SDF. Security forces managed to recapture 81 of the escapees, while operations continued to apprehend the remaining fugitives.

The escape occurred amid a breakdown of a ceasefire deal between the Syrian government and the SDF. Government forces and SDF fighters clashed on January 19–20 around two prisons holding IS members in the northeast. The clashes followed an agreement announced on Sunday for the transfer of prisons from SDF to government control, which did not proceed smoothly.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, who reportedly visited Damascus to solidify the ceasefire, made no public statement after the meeting. The SDF later called for “all of our youth” to join the resistance, signalling that the agreement had effectively collapsed.

Additionally, the SDF accused “Damascus-affiliated factions” of cutting off water supplies to the al-Aqtan prison near Raqqa, calling it a “blatant violation of humanitarian standards.”

The SDF controls over a dozen prisons in northeast Syria, detaining roughly 9,000 IS members, many of whom are accused of carrying out atrocities in Syria and Iraq after IS declared a caliphate in June 2014. Though the group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, sleeper cells continue to carry out deadly attacks in both countries.

The ongoing tensions come as Syria’s new leadership, which took power after the fall of Bashar Assad in December 2024, struggles to assert authority over the war-torn country. Government offensives in recent weeks have seized control of strategic areas including Deir el-Zour and Raqqa provinces, which contain oil and gas fields, river dams along the Euphrates, and key border crossings.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa postponed a planned trip to Germany due to the escalating conflict, highlighting the fragility of the ceasefire and the continuing instability in northeast Syria.