For days, fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the People’s and Women’s Defense Units (YPG and YPJ), and the Anti-Terror Units risked their lives to defend Al-Aqtan Prison in Raqqa against attacks by jihadist HTS government forces and Turkish combat drones. After several days of siege and heavy shelling, during which the so-called Syrian transitional government cut off water, electricity, and food supplies, the SDF has been retreating toward Kobanê since early Friday morning.
In a statement on Friday, SDF Media Center said: “With the help of the international coalition, we have completed the process of transporting our fighters tasked with protecting the Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which houses detainees from the terrorist organization ISIS, to safe locations.”
Al-Aqtan prison is considered one of the most heavily secured facilities for high-ranking ISIS members in northern and eastern Syria. Since Sunday, it had been under heavy fire from regime militias, and a Turkish drone strike was also documented. For days, the fighters prevented the approximately 2,000 imprisoned ISIS terrorists from escaping. According to consistent media reports, the SDF had been waiting for a commitment from the international ISIS coalition to take over security of the prison, which is now under the control of regime troops.
According to its own statement on Wednesday, the US launched an operation to transfer up to 7,000 ISIS prisoners from Syria to Iraq. According to the AFP news agency, 150 have been transferred so far.