RAQQA, Syria — Syrian government forces took control Friday of a prison housing members of the Islamic State group in the north of the country, after hundreds of Kurdish fighters who were guarding the facility evacuated the area as part of a recent deal.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the government’s prisons authority is now in charge of al-Aqtan prison, north of the northern city of Raqqa, and that the files of the detainees are being reviewed.
Al-Aqtan is the second prison to come under government control after being abandoned by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. Syrian troops entered Shaddadeh prison on Monday near the border with Iraq, from where 120 IS detainees managed to flee amid the chaos. Most of them have been recaptured, state media said.
Syria's interim government signed an agreement last March with the SDF for it to hand over territory and to eventually merge its fighters with government forces. In early January, a new round of talks failed to make progress over the merger, leading to renewed fighting between the two sides. A new version of the accord was signed over the weekend, and a four-day ceasefire declared on Tuesday.
The move into al-Aqtan prison comes two days after the U.S. military said that it has started transferring some of the 9,000 IS detainees held in more than a dozen detention centers in northeast Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in northeast Syria.
The SDF was the main force fighting IS in Syria over the past decade, and in March 2019 captured the last sliver of land that the extremists held.
During the battles against IS, thousands of extremists and tens of thousands of women and children linked to them were taken and held in prisons and at the al-Hol camp, which government forces took control of on Wednesday.
The capture of al-Aqtan prison came after government forces surrounded it from all sides earlier this week during a two-week offensive against the SDF. Raqqa governor Abdul-Rahman Salama said there are up to 2,000 detainees at al-Aqtan, but it wasn't immediately clear how many of them are linked to IS.
Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Abdul-Qader Tahan visited the prison on Friday to see the conditions of the detention center and the detainees, state television reported.
Negotiations had been ongoing for days, after which a deal was reached to open a corridor for the nearly 800 SDF fighters to head west toward the region of Kobani, which is still controlled by the U.S.-backed group.
Hundreds of people gathered on the sides of snow-covered streets in Kobani waving their hands and some flashing victory signs to welcome the fighters who arrived in vans, buses and pickup trucks. Some people opened fire in the air to welcome the fighters who had been under siege for days.
The SDF said in a statement that with the support of the U.S.-led coalition, the force has completed the transfer of its fighters assigned to securing al-Aqtan Prison “to safe locations.” The SDF said that al-Aqtan prison holds detainees from the IS “terrorist organization.”
The fighters arrived in Kobani as the region is under siege by government forces from three sides, while the border crossing with Turkey from the north remains closed as it has been for years.
Kobani resident Mihemet Bozan told The Associated Press that he had to drive 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from the town to be able to get a cellular signal. Amid freezing temperatures, there is no fuel for heating and the area is running out of diesel needed by bakeries to make bread, he said.
“Conditions are very difficult,” Bozan said, adding that bakeries that are working have long lines of people waiting. “Within a week people will end up without food or water,” he said referring to the siege.
The government push into northeast Syria in early January led thousands of mainly Kurds to flee into the northeastern province of Hassakeh, which has a large Kurdish community.
A four-day ceasefire was declared Tuesday night, after several previous truces collapsed. As part of a deal signed Sunday by interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, the U.S.-backed force should merge into the ministries of defense and interior.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said in a statement on Tuesday that the SDF’s role as Syria’s primary anti-IS force “has largely expired” since the new government is “both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities.” The U.S. isn't interested in “prolonging a separate SDF role,” he said.
On Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said that Iraq had requested that IS detainees be transferred to Iraq, and Washington accepted the idea. The Syrian government welcomed the deal to transfer the prisoners after it was made public on Wednesday saying it will help in the process.
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