ADDS DETAILS; REVISES HEAD, LEDE
By Rania Abushamala
ISTANBUL (AA) - Syria’s Interior Ministry said Monday that the YPG/SDF group's release of ISIS (Daesh) detainees from al-Shaddadi prison in the northeastern Hasakah province constitutes a “serious security breach” threatening Syrian, regional, and international security.
“Based on our constitutional and legal responsibilities, we affirm our full readiness to assume the management and security of prisons holding ISIS elements in Hasakah province, in accordance with internationally recognized standards, in a manner that ensures the prevention of any security breaches or escape attempts,” the ministry said in a statement.
It also announced its readiness “for direct coordination with the US side, within the framework of joint efforts to prevent the return of terrorism and ensure the security and stability of the region.”
“We hold the SDF fully responsible for any escapes or releases of ISIS elements from prisons under their control,” added the statement.
It added that a “special joint force from the Special Tasks Department and the Prison Administration has been prepared,” tasked with taking over and securing the prison’s perimeter and internal management, ensuring the application of the highest standards of guarding and detention, and preventing “any attempts at infiltration or smuggling.”
Earlier, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), citing the army’s Operations Command, said military forces “have taken control of the city of al-Shaddadi and its prison south of Hasakah, and have immediately begun operations to secure the area and arrest fleeing ISIS elements whom the SDF had released.”
The command also announced “a complete curfew in the city of al-Shaddadi and its surroundings,” and called on residents to “inform deployed military units of any fleeing ISIS elements.”
Earlier, the command explained that the army contacted mediators and the SDF “to hand over the al-Shaddadi prison to the internal security forces to secure it and its surroundings, but the SDF leadership rejected this and continues to do so until this moment.”
The Syrian Army held the SDF “fully responsible for releasing ISIS elements from al-Shaddadi prison,” vowing to take the necessary measures “to reestablish control over the area.”
Separately, the Syrian government said Monday it “categorically rejects any attempt to use the terrorism file as a tool of political or security blackmail.”
It accused the so-called “Autonomous Administration,” the governing arm of the SDF, of “political exploitation of the terrorism card and of security pressure and blackmail.”
It called efforts to link law-enforcement measures and the restoration of state authority to the risk of activating terrorist cells “a blatant attempt to distort facts and inflame conflict in order to preserve an authority imposed by force.”
Damascus affirmed, through its military and security institutions, its “full readiness to carry out its duties in combating terrorism within the framework of international efforts to eliminate ISIS,” pledging to “secure all detention centers in accordance with internationally recognized standards.”
It warned the SDF against “any reckless steps that could facilitate the escape of ISIS detainees or the opening of prisons as a means of political pressure.”
“Any security breach in these prisons will be the direct responsibility of the party currently controlling them,” it said.
On Sunday evening, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced a ceasefire and an agreement for the full integration of the SDF into state institutions.
Under the deal, the SDF will withdraw its military formations east of the Euphrates River and hand over administrative and security control of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor provinces to the Syrian state.
The agreement also provides for the integration of SDF military and security personnel into the Syrian ministries of defense and interior following individual security vetting, as well as the transfer of border crossings, oil and gas fields, and civilian institutions to government control.
The announcement followed a military operation launched by the Syrian Army, through which it regained wide areas in eastern and northeastern Syria after repeated violations by the SDF of earlier agreements signed with Damascus nearly a year ago.