ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria (Rojava) have lost control of a large detention facility housing tens of thousands of veteran Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Hasaka province after “repeated attacks” by Damascus-linked factions, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Monday. 

“Since this morning, al-Shaddadi Prison, which houses thousands of ISIS terrorists, has been subjected to repeated attacks by Damascus-based factions,” the SDF said, adding that it suffered “dozens of martyrs” in a bid to deter a “security catastrophe.”

But a nearby US-led coalition base did not intervene and stop Damascus-linked factions from attacking, the SDF lamented, “despite repeated calls for intervention.”

“We hereby inform the public that al-Shaddadi Prison is currently outside the control of our forces,” the Kurdish-led force stated. 

In an earlier statement, the SDF warned of increasing attacks by Damascus-affiliated forces on the prison, stressing that the attacks constituted a “highly dangerous” situation. 

The prison assault came amid broader clashes between the Kurdish-led forces and factions affiliated with the Damascus government in northern Syria, including Ain Issa, al-Shaddadi, and Raqqa, according to an earlier SDF statement.

The army told Syrian state media that they had lost three soldiers in the altercation.

The offensive comes a day after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi signed a 14-point Ceasefire and Full Integration Agreement, which included an immediate ceasefire “on all fronts.” 

The agreement includes the SDF’s immediate handover of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces to the Syrian government, with Damascus also set to take responsibility for ISIS prisoners in SDF-run facilities.

The SDF has for years been in charge of many camps and prisons holding ISIS affiliates and family members in northeast Syria (Rojava), after the Kurdish-led and US-backed force fought the lion’s share of the battle and defeated ISIS territorially in Syria in 2019. 

Kurdish authorities have repeatedly called the detention facilities a “ticking time bomb,” urging countries to repatriate their nationals. 

The Kurdish-led Rojava administration on Saturday warned of “the imminent danger to a prison holding ISIS terrorist detainees in the city of Raqqa. Due to the continuation of military attacks around the area, the security situation of the prison may become unstable and become a real danger of reactivating the scenes of the terrorist organization.”

Sharaa’s former rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), spearheaded an offensive in December 2024 to oust former President Bashar al-Assad. 

HTS subscribed to an extremist Islamist ideology and was rooted in al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria - the al-Nusra Front. 

The group was a designated terrorist organization by the UN Security Council, with Sharaa personally being the target of a US bounty worth $10 million, leading analysts to raise concerns about the Syrian army being in charge of the cells holding ISIS members.

Sunday’s ceasefire came after weeks of violence between Kurdish-led forces and Damascus-affiliated factions across areas west of the Euphrates, including Aleppo and Raqqa, with both sides trading blame over instigating the clashes.