Who broke open the prision on north east siria during the clash between the SDF and government army?
Executive summary
A clear, single-party attribution for who "broke open" the prison in northeast Syria during the recent clashes is not established in open reporting: Syrian government statements accuse the SDF of deliberately releasing detainees, while Kurdish-led SDF officials say they lost control after an attack by government-affiliated forces and videos show masked men breaking inmates out—each side advances competing narratives and independent verification remains limited [1] [2] [3].
1. What happened on the ground: escapes during chaotic handovers
Multiple outlets report that more than a hundred Islamic State detainees fled a prison in Shaddadi (also spelled al-Shaddadi) amid fighting as control of SDF-run prisons was being transferred to Damascus under a recent deal, and that security forces later recaptured many escapees; those escapes occurred in the context of abrupt SDF withdrawals and government advances in northeast Syria [3] [4] [2].
2. The Syrian army’s account: SDF culpability and a “release” accusation
The Syrian defense and interior ministries publicly accused the SDF of allowing or effecting the release of detainees, framing the escapes as a consequence of SDF actions or negligence during the transfer process and presenting the government as moving to secure the facilities thereafter [2] [4] [5].
3. The SDF’s account: loss of control after attack by government-affiliated forces
SDF officials counter that they lost control of the Shaddadi prison after an attack by forces aligned with the Syrian government, saying their fighters were compelled to withdraw and that the breakouts happened amid that assault and ensuing chaos rather than as an intentional SDF release [1] [3] [5].
4. Visual and third‑party evidence: masked figures, videos, and UN concern
Journalistic reporting includes SDF-released videos showing balaclava‑clad figures escorting apparent IS members out of a jail, which is consistent with footage cited by The Guardian and others, while the UN and independent monitors warned a security vacuum from renewed clashes and an imperfect handover likely contributed to escapes—yet none of the sources provide incontrovertible chain‑of‑custody proof identifying the armed actors in the footage as formal government units or as rogue militias [3] [6] [1].
5. Why both sides blame the other: incentives and the transfer context
The dispute fits predictable incentives: Damascus benefits politically from portraying the SDF as irresponsible or duplicitous to justify its takeover of prisons and territory, while the SDF seeks to show it was attacked and overwhelmed rather than abandoning high-security detainees—reporting notes the transfers were rushed and contested after a fragile ceasefire, creating operational gaps that either side could exploit rhetorically [7] [8] [9].
6. Independent verification is lacking; reporting remains contested
Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera, DW, PBS and others document the competing claims and the escapes but make clear the immediate facts—who physically forced prison gates or organized the breakout—are unresolved in publicly available evidence, with security statements and selective videos supporting different narratives and no definitive third‑party forensic attribution published to date [2] [10] [7] [3].
7. Bottom line: the record and what still needs to be proven
The most accurate statement supported by current reporting is that detainees escaped amid clashes during a contested handover, with Syrian authorities accusing the SDF of releasing them and the SDF blaming an attack by government‑affiliated forces; visual material shows masked figures escorting prisoners but does not independently prove which chain of command those figures answered to—therefore responsibility for “breaking open” the prison remains contested pending further, verifiable evidence [1] [3] [2].