Longtime U.S. allies say they have abandoned large prisons holding thousands of Islamic State group fighters and their families in northeastern Syria.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Tuesday it had redeployed from the al-Hol camp to nearby cities, blaming “international indifference” for the withdrawal. The move comes amid intensifying fighting between the SDF and fighters loyal to the government of Syria and after a reported ceasefire between the two sides.
"International indifference toward the issue of the ISIS terrorist organization and the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing this serious matter" was behind the move, the SDF said on X.
The SDF and the government have traded blame over the escape from a prison in the town of Shaddadeh, amid the breakdown of a ceasefire deal between the two sides.
SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami told Kurdish news website Rudaw that around “1,500 ISIS militants — including both foreign and Syrian nationals — had been released” by Damascus-affiliated armed groups from Shaddadi prison in southern Hasaka as well following fighting there.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said 120 Islamic State group members had escaped from the prison.
Security forces recaptured 81 of the escapees, “while intensive security efforts continue to pursue the remaining fugitives and take the necessary legal measures against them,” the statement said, The Associated Press reported.
The Syrian army and the SDF on Sunday signed a ceasefire to end fighting that has displaced thousands. The two sides also agreed on a sweeping integration deal that was supposed to bring much of the autonomous region under government control. Responsibility for prisons housing ISIS detainees was meant to be transferred to the government.
The two warring sides are key allies of Washington. U.S. envoy Tom Barrack met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa earlier Sunday as government forces were sweeping into the city of Raqqa and across Deir el-Zour province. SDF leader Mazloum Abdi reportedly joined the meeting over the phone.
On Tuesday, Barrack defended the changing U.S. position on the Kurdish forces, which have been guarding prisons holding ISIS members and encampments with tens of thousands of civilians, many of them relatives of imprisoned fighters.
The U.S. military presence in the area was necessary to counter the presence of ISIS, whose extremist caliphate controlled swaths of Syria and Iraq before collapsing, he said on X.
The SDF "proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019," said Barrack, who is also the U.S. ambassador to Turkey.
"At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with — the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia," he added, referring to the rule of Bashar al-Assad, who was deposed by al-Sharaa in December 2024. "Today, the situation has fundamentally changed."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday that he had spoken with Abdi and that promoting stability in Syria is essential.
“As a close partner of ours and the tip of the spear in the fight against ISIS, we have an obligation to ensure that the SDF is treated fairly," he said in a statement. "The U.S. should immediately demand that the Syrian government comply with the ceasefire and not attack predominantly Kurdish areas."
Since toppling Assad in December 2024, Syria’s new leaders have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country, but a recent push has seen them gain control over the Deir el-Zour and Raqqa provinces, critical areas under the SDF that include oil and gas fields, and border crossings.
The SDF blames Turkey's support for many of its defeats. Ankara is the biggest supporter of the government in Damascus and sees the SDF as a threat, having battled its own Kurdish minority for decades.
