Syria says about 120 Islamic State detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison after days of clashes with Kurdish-led forces, as Damascus and the SDF accuse each other and struggle to contain the breakout amid wider political and military tensions.
Around 120 Islamic State detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison, Syria’s Interior Ministry said, countering an earlier report from Kurdish outlet Rudaw that quoted an SDF spokesperson claiming roughly 1,500 militants had broken out.
According to the ministry, Syrian army units and special forces moved into Shaddadi after the breakout. Security forces recaptured 81 escapees following search and sweep operations in the town and nearby areas, while efforts were ongoing to arrest those still at large.
Earlier, the Syrian army said “a number of” Islamic State militants had escaped from a prison under SDF control in Shaddadi, accusing the SDF of releasing them.
Kurdish withdrawal after days of clashes
The escape came after days of fighting between government forces and the SDF, which agreed on Sunday to withdraw from Raqqa and Deir al-Zor. The two Arab-majority provinces had been under Kurdish-led control for years and contain Syria’s main oil fields.
On Monday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and US President Donald Trump discussed guaranteeing Kurdish rights during a phone call, Syria’s presidency said. The conversation took place a day after Damascus reached a deal with Kurdish forces that included a truce.
Sharaa also met Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led SDF, to discuss the agreement, which provides for integrating the Kurdish administration into the Syrian state. A Kurdish source with knowledge of the talks told AFP the discussions were not positive.
Autonomy ambitions under pressure
Analysts said the deal, which followed swift government advances in Kurdish-controlled areas after Kurdish fighters were driven out of Aleppo city earlier this month, dealt a blow to Kurdish ambitions of maintaining de facto autonomy across parts of northern and northeastern Syria for more than a decade.
During the phone call, Sharaa and Trump “emphasised the need to guarantee the Kurdish people’s rights and protection within the framework of the Syrian state”, according to the presidency. They also “affirmed the importance of preserving the unity and independence of Syrian territory” and discussed “cooperation on combating” the Islamic State group.
The Kurdish source said differences in the Sharaa–Abdi talks focused on “the mechanism for implementing the terms of the agreement”.
Clashes despite a ceasefire
Despite the ceasefire, brief clashes broke out on Monday evening in Raqqa city, with an AFP correspondent reporting heavy bombardment.
Using another name for the Islamic State group, the SDF said government forces shelled the Al-Aqtan prison, “which holds ISIS members and leaders, in an attempt to storm it”. Raqqa was once the jihadist group’s de facto capital in Syria.
A defence ministry source later told AFP that the clashes had stopped, without giving further details.
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