Kurdish-led SDF pulls out of camp for IS families during clashes in Syria

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) says it has withdrawn from a camp holding thousands of people with alleged links to the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), as clashes with the Syrian government continue despite a ceasefire agreement.

The SDF said its forces were “compelled to withdraw” from al-Hol camp and redeploy to other cities in northern Syria “due to the international indifference toward the issue of [IS]”.

The Syrian interior ministry condemned the move, saying it took place without any co-ordination with the government or US-led coalition against IS.

It came after suspected IS fighters escaped nearby Shaddadi prison during clashes between government forces and the SDF.

The interior ministry said 120 detainees broke out of the SDF-run Shaddadi prison on Monday but that soldiers and police had arrested 81 of the fugitives.

The SDF said government forces had freed 1,500 detainees after it lost control of the prison.

It also said al-Aqtan prison near Raqqa was being shelled and had lost its water supply.

On Sunday, the militia alliance agreed to give the government control of the Kurdish-run autonomous region in the north-east, including its prisons and camps, in a deal meant to end almost two weeks of fighting.

The agreement also said the SDF’s tens of thousands of fighters would withdraw from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour provinces to neighbouring Hassakeh, and then be fully integrated into the defence and interior ministries’ forces.

It represented a major blow for the SDF, which had been reluctant to give up the autonomy that it won for Syria’s Kurdish minority when helping US-led coalition forces defeat IS militarily during the country’s 13-year civil war.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to reunify Syria since he led the rebel offensive that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, but the country remains deeply divided and has been rocked by waves of deadly sectarian violence.