News themezone finds Syrian prison with no ISIS detainees as clashes between US partners raise security risk

Erbil, Iraq— News themezone found empty cells and orange jumpsuits abandoned Monday inside a Northeast prison Syria which, until days ago, was holding suspected ISIS militants. The incident has highlighted Washington’s lingering security concerns following Syria’s brutal civil war.

Syria’s Interior Ministry accused the U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of allowing about 120 ISIS detainees to escape from Al-Shaddadi prison, which is less than two miles from a U.S. military base, during attempts by government forces to take control of the facility.

The SDF has denied allowing the prisoners to escape, and the Syrian government later claimed that most of the escapees had been recaptured.

US concerns and a changing relationship with the Kurdish SDF

The SDF is an umbrella group of Kurdish forces that have maintained semi-autonomous control over a significant area of ​​northeastern Syria for years. He turned out to be a vital ally of the United States during the war against ISIS in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Clashes between Syria’s relatively new postwar government – supported by some local tribes – and the SDF stepped up last week in northeastern Syria. The fighting comes after two failed attempts at mediation, led by the US ambassador to Türkiye and the special envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack.

The US alliance with the SDF dates back to 2014, when ISIS seized nearly a third of Syria and Iraq. Backed by American airstrikes and other assistance from Washington and its partners, SDF fighters played a decisive role in dismantling the self-proclaimed Islamic State of ISIS.

Following the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2024, the new Syrian government, led by Ahmad al-Shaara, a former Islamic militant who has since distanced himself from extremist groups, has managed to significantly improve relations with the United States. He was even invited to visited the White House last year meet with Trump and, under his leadership, Syria has formally joined the Global Coalition against ISIS.

Both the SDF and the Syrian government are now partners of the United States, but there are deep and persistent disagreements between those two entities over the future governance of Syria and the SDF’s control of the country’s territory. have broken out into clashes recently.

Violence has broken out in the Syrian provinces of Raqqa and al-Hasakah, making the complicated situation a potential risk for the United States, where there are multiple prisons housing thousands of ISIS fighters – and also multiple bases used by US forces. A Pentagon official told News themezone in December that the United States had about 1,000 forces in Syria to counter ISIS.

A US military source confirmed to News themezone that there is a US combat outpost near al-Shaddadi prison, used largely for intelligence gathering and surveillance to protect US forces in the region.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Ambassador Barrack said the emergence of the new government in Damascus had changed “the logic of the partnership between the United States and the SDF: the original purpose of the SDF as the main anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired, as Damascus is now willing and positioned to assume security responsibilities, including control of ISIS camps and detention centers.”

He urged the SDF to work with the government in Damascus and adopt “a path toward full integration into a unified Syrian state with citizenship rights, cultural protections and political participation long denied under Bashar al-Assad’s regime, where many Kurds faced statelessness, language restrictions and systemic discrimination.”

Barrack said the U.S. government remains focused on “ensuring the security of prison facilities containing ISIS prisoners, currently guarded by the SDF,” as well as facilitating talks between the SDF and the Syrian government to ensure “the peaceful integration of the SDF and the political inclusion of Syria’s Kurdish population into historic full Syrian citizenship.”

Control of thousands of ISIS prisoners and family members changing rapidly

Attacks by pro-government forces on SDF positions near Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which houses nearly 1,000 ISIS detainees, have fueled concerns about a possible mass escape in recent days. The SDF claimed in a social media post on Tuesday that government forces were attacking the prison again with explosive drones and intense gunfire.

SDF spokesman Farhad Shami told News themezone that the situation at al-Qatna was “extremely dangerous” and said that if government forces stormed the facility, ISIS detainees could escape as they did at al-Shaddadi.

The biggest concern, however, is the Ghwayran prison in al-Hasakah, where thousands of ISIS-hardened inmates are still held. Over the past six years, Ghwayran has faced multiple riots and coordinated ISIS attacks aimed at freeing imprisoned members.

Shami said the situation in the prison was safe despite attempted attacks by local ISIS sleeper cells on Tuesday. He said, however, that pro-government forces were massing about 24 kilometers south and east of the city of al-Hasakah, in preparation for a possible assault.

Beyond the prisons, fighting also reached the sprawling al-Hol refugee camp in al-Hasakah. The camp, long guarded by the SDF, has housed more than 40,000 displaced people for a decade. Among them are the Relatives of ISIS militants detained and murdered.many of them very radicalized and still loyal to the group.

Videos posted online showed pro-Syrian government forces entering the facility, and Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a social media post that government forces had “begun to secure the situation in Al-Hol camp” following the withdrawal of the SDF, which it said had left “the camp without guards, in an attempt to create chaos and allow those in the camp to escape.”

Meanwhile, Turkish and Arab media quoted the Syrian presidency as saying that a “mutual understanding” had been reached with the SDF regarding the future of al-Hasakah province.

In a statement, the SDF announced its agreement for a ceasefire in the province, but Shami said pro-government forces continued to attack the group’s positions in al-Hasakah.