Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Syria’s Interior Ministry said Friday that it had taken over al-Aqttan prison in the northeastern outskirts of the city of Raqqa in northeastern Syria from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Fighters from the SDF were besieged inside the prison, which hosts ISIS detainees, since the forces of the Islamist-led Syrian Transitional Government (STG), launched a lighting offensive last week, taking over most of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, where Arabs make up the majority of the population.
A four-day ceasefire in northeastern Syria was announced on January 20, as a part of a wider understanding meant to implement a merger agreement signed by President Ahmad al-Sharaa and SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi two days earlier amid the fighting.
Since the ceasefire began both sides reported numerous violations, with the SDF accusing government forces of attacking Kurdish-majority areas in al-Hasakah and around the town of Kobani in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Amid these tensions, the SDF finally agreed to hand over al-Aqttan to government forces, and the withdrawal began early in the morning.
“Specialized teams were formed from the counter-terrorism department and other relevant authorities to take over the tasks of guarding and securing the prison and controlling the security situation inside it,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued after taking over the prison.
The SDF, from its side, said that its forces withdrew from the prison to “safe areas” with help from the “international coalition” led by the United States. It later became known that the Kurdish forces withdrew to Kobani.
Several facilities similar to al-Aqttan were broken into as government forces were advancing in northeastern Syria last week. Around 200 ISIS detainees were reportedly freed by the forces themselves from one facility near the town of al-Shaddadi in the southern al-Hasakah countryside. Many of them are still on the run.
In response to these incidents, the U.S. Central Command announced on January 21 that it will move 7,000 ISIS detainees from northeastern Syria to Iraq. It is still unclear if those in al-Aqttan will be transferred now that the facility has come under the control of the STG.
Over the past day, diplomatic efforts to extend the ceasefire and implement the merger agreement gained momentum, with Abdi holding meetings in Iraq’s Kurdistan with the region’s president Nechirvan Barzani and U.S. envoy Tom Barrack. He even held a phone call that was described as “smooth” with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, and another with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Still, both sides are amassing their forces in al-Hasakah and around Kobani. Thus, the current de-escalation may be just meant to facilitate the transfer of ISIS detainees.
The U.S. has so far taken no steps to defend the SDF, which supported the anti-ISIS coalition for over a decade. A recent report by The Wall Street Journal even revealed that Washington is considering a full withdrawal from Syria. If fighting resumes, Kurdish forces could completely collapse.
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