Power Shift in Syria Upends Prisons Holding ISIS Detainees

A sudden shift in northeastern Syria has left a network of two dozen high-security prisons and camps holding thousands of Islamic State members and their families in disarray. In a January breakout outside Shaddadi, orange jumpsuits lay strewn where inmates fled; guards’ quarters were abandoned and gates swung in the wind.

Syrian government forces seized wide areas from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, taking control of Shaddadi and the sprawling Al Hol camp, which had housed more than 20,000 women and children. The government said it would not run the system as before, allowed thousands to leave, and announced that it had evacuated or relocated the last families from the camp; aid workers found whole sections and an annex of some 6,000 foreign women and children empty.

Independent researchers say the chaos offered opportunities for Islamic State operatives, with sleeper cells and fighters from Iraq moving in to seize weapons and free some members, including a woman known as Um Fahad.

Syria, Shaddadi

syria, shaddadi, al hol, islamic state, isis detainees, syrian government, sdf, breakout, sleeper cells, prisons