The US military has launched a mission to transfer up to 7,000 Islamic State (IS) group fighters from prisons in northeastern Syria to Iraq, as Syrian government forces take control of areas long controlled by Kurdish-led forces.
The US Central Command said it has moved 150 IS fighters from the province of Hassakeh to a safe location in Iraq.
The move was aimed at preventing a breakout that would “pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security”, it added.
On Tuesday night, the Syrian government announced a new ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)after the militia alliance withdrew from al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of relatives of IS fighters.
Separately Wednesday, Syria’s defense ministry said seven soldiers were killed in a drone strike by Kurdish forces in the Kurdish-dominated province of Hasakah.
The government and SDF have previously blamed each other for the escape of suspected IS fighters from an SDF-run prison in Shaddadi, in southern Hassakeh.
Syria’s interior ministry said on Monday night that its special forces and army soldiers entered the city after “the escape of about 120 (IS) terrorists” from the prison.
Search operations by security forces resulted in the capture of 81 of the fugitives, it added.
The SDF said it lost control of the Shaddadi prison in the afternoon after “Damascus-affiliated factions” mounted a series of attacks and killed dozens of its fighters, which it said were trying to “prevent a serious security crisis”.
SDF spokesman Farhad Shami said around 1,500 IS members escaped during the clashes, according to Reuters news agency. The SDF also accused government forces of attacking al-Aqtan prison, north of Raqqa city, which holds IS members and leaders.
IS has weakened in Syria, but remains active, leading attacks against Kurdish-led forces in the north-east in 2025.
The US was the SDF’s main ally in Syria in the past. As of 2025, the US and allied forces say they have detained more than 300 IS operatives in Syria and killed more than 20 in the same period.
However, US special envoy Tom Barrack said that the rationale for the US-SDF partnership “has largely expired”, and that his country is currently focused on ensuring the security of facilities holding IS prisoners and facilitating talks between the SDF and the government of President Ahmed Sharaa.
“This opportunity offers a path to full integration into a unified Syrian state with citizenship rights, cultural protections, and political participation – long denied under the regime of Bashar al-Assad,” he wrote to X.