Manhunt after 120 Islamic State members escape from Syrian prison amid clashes

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces control more than a dozen prisons where some 9,000 IS members are held

Syria's interior ministry announced on Tuesday that 120 Islamic State members escaped from a prison in the northeast a day earlier, amidst escalating clashes between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who guard the facility.

Security forces have since recaptured 81 of the escapees, with "intensive security efforts" ongoing to pursue the remaining fugitives.

The SDF and the government have traded blame over the Shaddadeh prison escape, which occurred amid the breakdown of a ceasefire deal. Separately, the SDF accused "Damascus-affiliated factions" on Tuesday of cutting water supplies to the al-Aqtan prison near Raqqa, labelling it a "blatant violation of humanitarian standards".

Tribal fighters pose for photographs taken by onlookers after Syrian government troops. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The SDF, the main U.S.-backed force that fought IS in Syria, controls more than a dozen prisons in the northeast where some 9,000 IS members have been held for years without trial. Many of the detained extremists are believed to have carried out atrocities in Syria and Iraq after IS declared a caliphate in June 2014 over large parts of Syria and Iraq.

IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries.

Under a deal announced Sunday, government forces were to take over control of the prisons from the SDF, but the transfer did not go smoothly.

A Syrian government fighter stands guard outside Al-Aqtan prison on the outskirts of Raqqa, northeastern Syria. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

On Monday, Syrian government forces and SDF fighters clashed around two prisons housing members of the Islamic State group in Syria’s northeast.

The clashes came as SDF chief commander Mazloum Abdi was said to be in Damascus to attempt to solidify a ceasefire deal reached Sunday that ended days of deadly fighting during which government forces captured wide areas of northeast Syria from the SDF.

Abdi issued no statement after the meeting and the SDF later issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance," appearing to signal that the deal had fallen apart.

Soldiers of the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) deploy with armoured military vehicles to secure roads leading to Gweiran Prison which houses men accused of being an Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Hassakeh. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa postponed a planned trip to Germany Tuesday amid the ongoing tensions in northeast Syria.

Since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, Syria’s new leaders have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country. An agreement was reached in March that would merge the SDF with Damascus, but it didn’t gain traction.

Earlier this month, clashes broke out in the city of Aleppo, followed by the government offensive that seized control of Deir el-Zour and Raqqa provinces, critical areas under the SDF that include oil and gas fields, river dams along the Euphrates and border crossings.