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Syria Tightens Grip After Kurdish Pullback, Says ISIS Prisoners Escape

A member of Syrian military police stands guard near Raqqa prison, after the army took control of the city of Raqqa, Syria January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
A member of Syrian military police stands guard near Raqqa prison, after the army took control of the city of Raqqa, Syria January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syria Tightens Grip After Kurdish Pullback, Says ISIS Prisoners Escape

A member of Syrian military police stands guard near Raqqa prison, after the army took control of the city of Raqqa, Syria January 19, 2026. (Reuters)
A member of Syrian military police stands guard near Raqqa prison, after the army took control of the city of Raqqa, Syria January 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Syrian government troops tightened their grip on Monday across a swathe of northern and eastern territory after it was abruptly abandoned by Kurdish forces in a dramatic shift that has consolidated President Ahmed al-Sharaa's rule. 

A day after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), once the main US ally in Syria, agreed to quit large areas under a ceasefire, the Syrian army said "a number of" ISIS militants had escaped a prison that had been under SDF control in the eastern city of Shaddadi, accusing the SDF of releasing them. 

The SDF said it had lost control of the prison following an attack by government fighters. The Syrian army denied attacking the jail and said its forces would work to secure the prison and re-arrest the escapees. 

The SDF said Shaddadi prison had held thousands of militants. The army did not say how many ISIS detainees had fled. 

The SDF withdrawals mark the biggest change in Syria's control map since fighters led by Sharaa toppled President Bashar al-Assad in 2024, tilting the power balance Sharaa's way after months of deadlock in talks with the SDF over government demands its forces merge fully with Damascus.  

After days ‌of fighting with ‌government forces, the SDF agreed on Sunday to withdraw from both Raqqa and Deir al-Zor - two Arab-majority ‌provinces ⁠they had controlled for ‌years and the location of Syria's main oil fields. 

GOVERNMENT TROOPS DEPLOY AT OILFIELD, IN RAQQA 

Türkiye, which has repeatedly sent forces into northern Syria to curb Kurdish power since 2016, welcomed the deal signed by its ally Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the swift implementation of the agreement that requires the full integration of Kurdish fighters into Syria's armed forces. 

The SDF, spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, had established control of a quarter or more of Syria during the 2011-2024 civil war, whilst fighting with the support of US troops against ISIS. The United States, which has since established close ties with Sharaa under President Donald Trump, has been closely involved in mediation between the sides. 

The SDF media office said in a statement that the prison at Shaddadi - one of ⁠three under its control in the Hasakah region - had come under repeated attack by "Damascus factions", and that dozens of SDF fighters were killed or wounded defending it. 

The statement added that the ‌US-led coalition against ISIS had not intervened despite repeated appeals to a nearby coalition base. The ‍US military's Central Command did not immediately respond to an emailed ‍request for comment. 

In its denial of the SDF account, the Syrian Ministry of Defense said army forces had bypassed Shaddadi, in line with deployment ‍plans, and offered aid to SDF forces inside. The Syrian army announced it had established control over the city of Shaddadi and the prison. 

The Syrian Defense Ministry also denied an SDF account of clashes between government and SDF forces near a jail in Raqqa, which the SDF said was holding ISIS inmates. It said the army had arrived "at the vicinity of al-Aqtan prison ... and began securing it and its surroundings despite the presence of SDF forces inside". 

The SDF said nine of its fighters were killed and 20 wounded in clashes around al-Aqtan. 

Hasakah province, which largely remains under SDF control, is home to the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, the main prisons holding ISIS detainees, and a camp holding thousands of IS-linked prisoners. 

GOVERNMENT FORCES DEPLOY 

Reuters journalists saw ⁠government forces deployed in the city of Raqqa that the SDF had captured from ISIS in 2017, and at oil and gas facilities in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor - both areas the Kurdish forces had held for years. 

It follows the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from districts of Aleppo city they had controlled for years after fighting there earlier this month. 

The 14-point deal published by Syria's presidency showed Abdi's signature alongside Sharaa's. 

It stipulates that the prisons, along with all border crossings and oil and gas fields, would be handed to government control - steps the SDF had long resisted. 

The timing of the handover of the prisons and camps was not announced. 

Abdi, the SDF commander, confirmed on Sunday that the SDF had agreed to withdraw from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa provinces. 

Abdi said he is set to meet Sharaa in Damascus on Monday and would share the details of the agreement with the public after his return to SDF-held territory, Kurdish media reported. 

The deal says that all SDF forces will be merged into the defense and interior ministries as "individuals" and not as units, as the SDF had sought. 

It commits the SDF to expel all non-Syrian figures affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group which fought a decades-long insurgency in Türkiye. 

Senior figures ‌from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party said this removed a major obstacle to Türkiye’s peace process with PKK militants. 

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Arab World

Netanyahu Says He and Trump Share Goal to Disarm Hezbollah, Demilitarize Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Says He and Trump Share Goal to Disarm Hezbollah, Demilitarize Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on June 3, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he and US President Donald Trump are aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon. 

Hezbollah "is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians", Netanyahu said in an interview with US television channel CNBC. 

"And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah and we have to demilitarize Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that's what we have to do." 

Meanwhile, US Secretary Marco Rubio voiced hope Wednesday that the latest round of talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon will produce a security roadmap, despite Israel and Hezbollah's continuing hostilities. 

Israeli and Lebanese envoys meeting Wednesday for the fourth round of direct talks in the US capital "hopefully today will... produce a joint statement and an action plan on the track for security in that country, independent from Hezbollah," Rubio told a congressional panel. 

The negotiations come days after Trump said the two countries had pledged to de-escalate. 

But Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire, with Hezbollah claiming missile attacks on northern Israel Wednesday and Lebanon saying Israeli strikes in the south killed at least nine people, including two paramedics. 

Arab World

Israel Carries Out Deadly Strikes Near Beirut, Across Southern Lebanon

Lebanese soldiers gather near a car hit by an Israeli drone in the Khaldeh area at the southern entrance to Beirut, Lebanon, 03 June 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Lebanese soldiers gather near a car hit by an Israeli drone in the Khaldeh area at the southern entrance to Beirut, Lebanon, 03 June 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Israel Carries Out Deadly Strikes Near Beirut, Across Southern Lebanon

Lebanese soldiers gather near a car hit by an Israeli drone in the Khaldeh area at the southern entrance to Beirut, Lebanon, 03 June 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Lebanese soldiers gather near a car hit by an Israeli drone in the Khaldeh area at the southern entrance to Beirut, Lebanon, 03 June 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Lebanon said an Israeli strike hit a target near Beirut on Wednesday while a medical source told AFP six people were killed as Israel pounded the country's south.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it intercepted a "hostile aircraft" that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, the first such infiltration reported by the military in more than 24 hours.

Israeli officials have warned the military will strike Beirut's southern suburbs if Hezbollah launches projectiles targeting Israeli communities in the north, a stance they say has backing from Washington.

Hezbollah did not immediately claim any attack on northern Israel.

Israeli and Lebanese diplomats on Wednesday are set to hold a second day of direct talks in Washington -- the fourth such round since war erupted on March 2.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "the targeting of a car on the Khaldeh road,” referring to an area at the southern entrance to the capital.

An AFP correspondent at the scene saw an ambulance in attendance as onlookers peered at the strike site, which is on the main highway linking Beirut with the country's south.

A photograph shows the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in the Burj al-Chamali area near the southern city of Tyre, on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)

The NNA reported strikes on around 20 locations in the country's south on Wednesday, while Israel's army warned residents of several south Lebanon villages to evacuate ahead of attacks there.

A medical source in south Lebanon's Tyre told AFP that two Israeli strikes on the Al-Hawsh area near the coastal city on Wednesday killed six people -- four Syrian nationals and two Palestinians.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military released a statement alleging Hezbollah members were operating in Tyre's Christian quarter, warning it would order people to leave should the group remain there.

The picturesque seaside district has so far been spared from Israeli army evacuation warnings and strikes targeting the rest of Tyre city and its surrounds.

An AFP correspondent said the situation in Tyre was relatively calm on Wednesday morning, adding that some people who had been sleeping in cars or tents at the edge of the Christian quarter left for other nearby parts of the city after the Israeli military statement.

Wednesday's attacks come after a dramatic escalation in fighting and Israeli bombardment in recent days as Israeli troops staged their deepest ground offensive into Lebanon in two decades.

Arab World

Iraq Moving Forward with Imposing State Monopoly over Weapons

The Coordination Framework expressed its support for government efforts to impose state monopoly over weapons. (X)
The Coordination Framework expressed its support for government efforts to impose state monopoly over weapons. (X)
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Iraq Moving Forward with Imposing State Monopoly over Weapons

The Coordination Framework expressed its support for government efforts to impose state monopoly over weapons. (X)
The Coordination Framework expressed its support for government efforts to impose state monopoly over weapons. (X)

Iraq is stepping up its measures to impose state monopoly over weapons with some Shiite armed factions declaring that they were dismantling their military wings that have for years operated outside the control of the armed forces even though they are part of the official Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

On Monday, the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework tasked Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ali al-Zaidi with taking the necessary measures and decisions to “preserve the country’s supreme interests”.

It backed efforts to “impose state monopoly over arms and disengage the PMF from political, partisan and societal frameworks.”

The Coordination Framework is a coalition of Shiite parties and armed factions with varying ties to Iran.

Zaidi attended Monday’s meeting that also said that the decision of war and peace “is a sovereign one that is exclusively controlled by the people of Iraq through their constitutional institutions represented by the government and elected parliament.”

The statement was an implicit rejection of some factions’ involvement in the US-Israeli war on Iran, on Tehran’s side, after they carried out attacks without first referring to the government. It slammed such attacks as “illegal and unconstitutional.”

Moreover, the statement said the PMF is an “official security institution that is bound to the constitution and laws and orders of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.”

US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Joshua Harris welcomed the Framework’s statement, saying it was a step forward in consolidating independence and sovereignty for a promising future for Iraq.

Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji met with Harris on Tuesday, saying: “We underscored the importance of supporting the government’s efforts to ensure that arms remain exclusively under state authority.”

“We also welcomed the Coordination Framework’s position on this issue and its contribution to strengthening stability, reinforcing state authority, and upholding the rule of law,” he added in a post on X.

“We reaffirmed Iraq’s steadfast commitment to peaceful approaches in addressing crises and conflicts, in accordance with international law and diplomatic norms, in a manner that promotes regional and international peace and stability,” he stressed.

An official source in the Framework told Asharq Al-Awsat that disengaging the PMF from political and social frameworks aims to the steer it away from the “control of political leaderships and therefore, prevent it from being dismantled or restructured.”

It explained that American demands for the disarmament of factions also target the PMF seeing as most of the armed groups operate within it. So, the Framework’s statement on Tuesday may have been a preemptive step against demands for the PMF’s restructuring.

Mourners attend the funeral of members of the Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah who were killed in an airstrike that targeted a PMF headquarters near the western al‑Qaim district on the Syrian border, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 2, 2026. (Reuters)

Two factions to disarm

In a related development, the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed armed groups, announced on Tuesday that it would begin putting its weapons under government control.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq said it had formed a committee to oversee the move, including an inventory of its fighters, weapons and equipment, and to coordinate with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The group cast the decision as a response to calls by Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority and the Framework.

The Kataib Imam Ali faction also said on Tuesday that it was disengaging from the PMF and taking steps to limit weapons to the state.

In a statement, it said the move complies with the demand of the Framework and stems from its “national responsibility” and aims to “bolster national unity.”

In contrast, the Ashab al-Kahf group, which is part of the so-called “Islamic Resistance”, rejected on Tuesday calls for the disarmament of factions.

“Claims that the higher religious authority backs these efforts are baseless,” it charged.

The Kataib Hezbollah and Nujaba movement continue to reject calls to lay down their weapons.

Meanwhile, leader of the Hikma Movement Ammar al-Hakim said the factions are waiting until September to take a “decisive” step on disarmament.

September is the deadline for anti-ISIS international forces to withdraw from Iraq in line with an agreement reached with former PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani last year.

Observers have said that the disarmament process still lacks clarity, explaining that the leaders of these groups are taking the decisions while the official authorities are not playing a clear role in overseeing that they are being implemented.

Questions also remain about the size of their arsenal and whether they will indeed turn them over to the government authorities.

Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji and US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Joshua Harris meet on Tuesday. (Al-Araji on X)

Different views

Expert on Shiite groups Ibrahim al-Abadi said it was unlikely that the armed groups will comply with the Framework’s demand to disarm.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the factions that possess weapons are divided over the state monopoly over weapons.

One group believes that it has no interest in keeping the weapons as the cost has become too high given the US sanctions and the ensuing economic, financial and political losses it will incur, he explained.

This group believes that it has succeeded in “employing the ideology of weapons to achieve its financial and political ambitions. Its goals now do not sustain the ability to maintain the weapons, which are seen as an obstacle to reaching higher positions in power.”

“So, it believes that it is in its best interest to lay down some of the weapons and turn its partisan members into employees that can run their financial empire. This group now tries to curry favor with the Americans, sending them messages and seeking to end the enmity with the US,” he revealed.

“The second group is fearful of the future and wants to keep the weapons as a bargaining chip to keep positions and gains reaped throughout the years they used these weapons to acquire these gains,” he continued.

“So, this group refuses to lay down its arms. However, it will not be able to withstand internal and foreign pressure, and it is weighing the high risks of such a confrontation,” al-Abadi said.

“The third group openly declares its allegiance to the Iranian project and doesn’t even discuss disarmament. It believes that the American project is targeting the resistance forces in the region,” he remarked.

“It is using religious, political and ideological excuses to justify its defiance of the state’s decision to impose monopoly over arms,” he added.