Kurdish-Led Force Relinquishes Control Over ISIS Prison Camp in Syria

The Kurds had fought with the Syrian interim government over control of multiple facilities housing ISIS prisoners.

U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighbourhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, on April 4, 2025. Ghaith Alsayed/AP Photo

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on Jan. 23, handed Syria’s de facto interim government control of a prison facility used to house ISIS suspects.

“With the help of the international coalition, we have completed the process of transporting our fighters tasked with protecting the Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which houses ISIS terrorist detainees, to safe locations,” the SDF said in a statement shared to Telegram.

Syria’s Interior Ministry confirmed the transfer of control of the Aqtan prison, and said its personnel had begun reviewing the facility’s conditions and forming teams to handle security there.

Earlier this week, the Aqtan prison facility had been the site of armed skirmishes between the SDF and the forces of the Damascus-based interim government.

Syrian government forces sought to take control of multiple prison facilities housing ISIS suspects and their family members, leading to clashes with SDF members who had been guarding those sites.

The interim government accused the SDF of setting 120 ISIS members free at the Shaddadi prison facility and abandoning the Hol prison facility without proper coordination.

Amid this fighting, U.S. forces helped transfer 150 detainees from a prison facility in Syria to a new site in Iraq.

The U.S. Central Command said its forces undertook this transfer mission “to help ensure the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities.”

Even after the SDF relinquished control at the Aqtan prison on Friday, the Syrian government said its forces uncovered and subsequently disarmed multiple improvised explosive devices planted throughout the facility.

While the U.S. government had partnered with the SDF throughout the Syrian civil war and the fight against ISIS, it has also sought diplomacy with the Damascus-based interim government.

Syria’s interim government is currently led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, who assumed the presidency after his forces drove former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from power in December 2024.

Before assuming the role of Syrian interim president, Sharaa had led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist faction the U.S. government had designated as a foreign terrorist organization until July 2025.

HTS members now fill many of the leadership positions within the Damascus-based government.

The Trump administration has urged the SDF to integrate with the new forces of the new Damascus authorities.

In a Jan. 20 statement, U.S. special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the rationale for U.S. support for the SDF, including as ISIS prison guards, “has largely expired.”

Barrack said integration with the interim government now “represents the strongest chance yet for Kurds to secure enduring rights and security within a recognized Syrian nation-state.”

Integrating the SDF and the Kurds within the framework of the new interim government may prove challenging.

The Damascus authorities and the SDF announced they had reached a cease-fire agreement on Jan. 18, but there have been sporadic clashes in the days since.

In a statement on Jan. 22, SDF commanding Gen. Mazloum Abdî said he had a constructive meeting with Barrack and U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper, where they discussed efforts to improve dialogue and negotiations with the Damascus authorities.

“We will work with all our capabilities, and in a serious manner, to achieve genuine integration and to preserve the current ceasefire,” Abdî said.