Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Some 1,500 ISIS prisoners reportedly escape amid Syrian gov’t advance on Kurdish city
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe Kurdish website Rudaw reports that a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Farhad Shami, said around 1,500 Islamic State members escaped from Syria’s Shaddadi prison.
Earlier, the Syrian army said “a number of” Islamic State fighters had escaped a prison that had been under SDF control in the eastern city of Shaddadi, accusing the SDF of releasing them. The army did not say how many escaped.
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