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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the free isis protesters in langley and tel-aviv are getting their way again. more militants to fund and deploy !
it will not surprise me if these salafi/takfiri scum are being prepared for an attack on iran.
really ramjet wouldn’t surprise you eh? i guess it wouldn’t actually.
he just says the same thing everyday here since they started the operation. the disgusting obscenities he posts all day everyday, as long as anti american anti semitic never get deleted or need “approval” meaning deleted disappeared the minute your backs turned as they are if the comments not aligned with those objectives.
it should be noted that the reform only affected the structure of the ground forces. the international legion of the main intelligence directorate of ukraine operates separately and continues to function as usual.
.………………… https://psee.io/8jqu9r
that is exactly what is ment to be. also these kurds aren’t trustworthy…they can go like: we can give you this bullshit or that bullshit if you attack i.r.iran.
that’s why the americans have lifted 7000 of these savages to iraq from syria that has a very long border.
you don’t fool me or anyone really with the one in one hundred million faithless followers you’ve established here in your 20 year or more career , mostly just passers by i’m sure, taking a look before moving on. but your trolls consistently here repeating the exact same rhetorics everyday. for the sane time period too. coincidentally naturally.
according to al jazeera not all prisoners of the kurds were really isis terrorists, some were detained for things like being found to have a picture of al sharaa, and their relatives are waiting outside calling for their release.
and guess what, most of the prisoners are women and children, didn’t you see the video of al hawl prison those vile kurdish were helding women and children or was it an ai. why holding children and women why, well for some dollars to funds their militia of course. what an abhorent act to imprison women and children in order to support a degenerate militia.
i don’t know what south front narratives are based on, interest? ideology? i think it’s time to acknowledge syrian government as taliban been acknowledged in afghanistan because even if those people were former or even still al qaeda members we can’t deny the fact that they are now politicians and responsible.
and south front need to stop portraying them as savage killer, imagine being a majority and being oppressed by a narcissistic minority, it’s just like a pressure cooker that explodes, and if they committed some violations at least they didn’t kill or imprison children and women which is something that kurds will do without second thought.
sdf area was a dictatorship where they killed, or jailed anyone opposing them. in their area just around 10-15% were kurds and 75% sunni arabs.
sunni arabs never agreed their rule. it was like hitler occupying of soviet areas. none of the russian civilians liked it. similar to russian civilians waiting stalin to liberate them, sunni arab civilians were waiting for jolani to liberate them.
glad that somenone observed the truth, i think i can’t persuade anymore, but to be fair, jolani and his followers are not angels, but at least they are the most rational and wise right now, others are just bunch of bigots racist and narcissists.
pkk and ypg was weak, they are in war with turkey more than 30 years. turkey had weakened it before and al-djulani president of syria cut the head.