Less than 24 hours after a historic ceasefire and integration agreement was signed to unify Syria, violent clashes erupted on Monday between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The 14-point deal, finalised on Sunday between President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and the SDF, was intended to end nearly two weeks of fighting and bring the autonomous northeastern region under full state control. Instead, its implementation unravelled almost immediately, as government troops advanced into parts of Raqqa and Hasakah provinces, triggering clashes around key security installations.
The most serious consequence of the renewed violence has been the fate of prisons housing thousands of Islamic State fighters. Under the terms of the agreement, the SDF was required to hand over all detention centres and camps holding Islamic State members and their families to the Syrian government. Control over these facilities quickly became the flashpoint, with both sides accusing the other of jeopardising the security and risking a mass breakout.
Fighting intensified around the town of Shaddadi in Hasakah province. The Syrian army announced that it had entered the town after alleging that the SDF had decided to release a number of Islamic State detainees from the local prison. According to government statements, Damascus had contacted mediators to arrange an orderly transfer of the facility, but claimed the SDF leadership refused to cooperate and failed to prevent prisoners from escaping. The interior ministry said it was deploying forces to secure the prisons and prevent “security breaches”, while imposing a curfew across the area.
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The SDF offered a completely different account. It said the Shaddadi prison had “fallen outside the control of our forces” only after repeated attacks by factions affiliated with Damascus. The SDF reported that dozens of its fighters were killed while attempting to avert what it described as a looming “security catastrophe”. It also noted that the prison lies less than five kilometres from a base operated by the US-led coalition, yet coalition forces did not intervene despite repeated requests for assistance.
The violence was not confined to Shaddadi. Clashes were also reported around Al-Aqtan prison near Raqqa, another major detention facility holding Islamic State members. The SDF said nine of its fighters were killed in fighting near the prison, while independent reports suggested that Syrian government forces had reached its outskirts but were met with entrenched SDF resistance. In Hasakah city, the SDF deployed commandos, tanks and armoured vehicles to secure the perimeter of the Panorama prison, which holds an estimated 4,500 detainees linked to Islamic State.
The scale of what is at stake is considerable. At least 27 detention facilities and two large camps across the region hold Islamic State suspects. Estimates suggest that around 9,000 male Islamic State members are imprisoned, while camps house more than 43,000 non-combatants, most of them women and children related to fighters. Iraqi officials have expressed particular concern about the stability of these sites, especially Al Hol camp, warning that any collapse in security could create a threat comparable to that posed by Islamic State itself.
As the fighting escalated, the dispute over the prisons turned into a war of narratives. The Syrian government accused the SDF of using the detainees as leverage, warning the Kurdish-led force not to exploit “cases of terrorism for political blackmail” or to open prisons as an act of retaliation. In response, SDF commander Mazlum Abdi said the conflict had been “imposed” on his forces by external actors, adding that the ceasefire was accepted only to stop further bloodshed.
The breakdown in security around the detention centres now threatens the broader integration agreement, which Al-Sharaa had hailed as a “victory for all Syrians”. The deal promised recognition of Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights, as well as the integration of SDF fighters into the Syrian Ministry of Defence on an individual basis. It also required the SDF to withdraw from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour and to hand over control of oil fields and border crossings to the state.
Despite the violence, diplomatic efforts have not ceased. Abdi was reported to be in Damascus on Monday for further talks. US officials, including special envoy Tom Barrack, had earlier described the agreement as a “pivotal inflection point”, while President Donald Trump discussed the importance of preserving Syrian unity in a conversation with President al-Sharaa. At the same time, Senator Lindsey Graham warned that continued government advances towards Raqqa could trigger severe sanctions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also weighed in, warning the SDF not to delay implementation.
