Syrian government takes over prison from Kurdish-led SDF, amid focus on ISIS inmates

Damascus announces control of prison in Raqqa, UN refugee agency struggles to access camp for ISIS families and EU warns of potential breakout amid Kurds’ rapid loss of territory

Syria’s Interior Ministry said Friday that it had taken over al-Aktan prison in the city of Raqqa in northeastern Syria, a facility that was formerly under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The prison has been holding detainees linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity this week between advancing Syrian government forces and the SDF.

The SDF was crucial to defeating ISIS a decade ago and has overseen the imprisonment of thousands of the terror group’s fighters and their families since. The European Union has expressed concern that some of those detainees could break out amid the transfer of power.

The US long backed the SDF, but Washington has more recently sided with Syria’s new central government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in its dramatic offensive to quickly take over the SDF-held parts of northern Syria.

Under military and political pressure from Damascus, which is seeking to extend its control across the country, the SDF has relinquished swathes of territory in recent days, withdrawing to parts of Hasakeh province, the Kurds’ stronghold in the northeast.

More than 134,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the United Nations, amid clashes and a fragile ceasefire deal.

Protesters wave Kurdistan flags during a demonstration in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah on January 22, 2026, opposing the deployment of Syrian government forces in formerly Kurdish-led areas in Syria. (Shwan MOHAMMED / AFP)

Under a sweeping integration deal agreed on Sunday, responsibility for prisons housing ISIS detainees was meant to be transferred to the Syrian government.

It was not immediately clear on Friday how many ISIS detainees remain in al-Aktan prison. The US military has started transferring up to 7,000 prisoners linked to ISIS from Syrian jails to neighboring Iraq. US officials say the detainees are citizens of many countries, including in Europe.

“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,” Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The EU said Friday that alleged breakouts by the detained foreign fighters were of “paramount concern,” and it was monitoring the transfer of prisoners to Iraq.

“The recent alleged breakouts of [ISIS] detainees amidst the clashes is of paramount concern,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said. “We closely monitor the situation, including the transfer of remaining fighters detained, including foreign terrorist fighters to Iraq.”

UN says trying to access Al-Hol camp for ISIS families

Meanwhile, poor security conditions at the Al-Hol camp, which houses thousands of suspected relatives of ISIS fighters, have prevented the United Nations refugee agency from entering, a spokesperson told AFP on Friday.

“UNHCR was able to reach Al-Hol for the past three days but has not yet been able to enter inside the camp due to the volatile security situation,” the refugee agency’s spokesperson in Syria, Celine Schmitt, said.

Kurdish forces withdrew from Al-Hol on Tuesday and the following day Syria’s army entered the camp where thousands of men, women and children have lived in squalid conditions for years.

Children and women, relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists, are seen inside Al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

“Yesterday, UNHCR and UNICEF were able to deliver trucks of water to the camp,” Schmitt said, referring to the UN children’s agency, and added that Syrian government forces have taken control of the camp’s perimeter.

“UNHCR is returning to Al-Hol today, with the hope of resuming the bread delivery that had stopped for the past three days,” she said.

Located in a desert region of Hasakeh province, Al-Hol is the largest camp for suspected ISIS relatives and is home to some 24,000 people — around 15,000 Syrians, 3,500 Iraqis and 6,200 other foreign women and children.

Schmitt said Syria’s government “has expressed its willingness to provide security and support to UNHCR and humanitarian partners so that humanitarian operations can resume.”

The UN refugee agency assumed the role of camp management on January 1, before the recent hostilities began, she added.

Six wounded, two critically, at pro-SDF protest in Belgium

In the Belgian city of Antwerp on Thursday, six people were wounded, two of them critically, in a knife attack at a demonstration by members of the local Kurdish community in support of the SDF.

Womentakes part in a rally next to a placard (L) reading “Salut to the women who fight” during a rally in Ankara, on January 20, 2026, against the offensive of Syrian government forces against Kurdish forces. (Ozan KOSE / AFP)

According to initial findings, the suspects had mingled with the demonstrators before attacking them, authorities said.

Orhan Kilic, a spokesperson for Navbel, a group representing the Kurdish diaspora in Belgium, said, “Just as the protest was disbanding, the Kurdish demonstrators were attacked by a group of men.”

“These men had sneaked into the demonstration and suddenly pulled out knives and began stabbing people indiscriminately,” he continued, adding, “It is clear that this attack is not an isolated instance of senseless violence, but a motivated attack on a community.”

Police said the incident was being investigated as a case of attempted murder, “not terrorism.”