Syria's army on Jan. 21 entered the vast Al-Hol camp that houses relatives of suspected ISIL members after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew from the site.
The government announced a new ceasefire with the SDF on Jan. 20 after taking swathes of north and east Syria that had long been under the control of the SDF.
The United States, which has long headed an international coalition and backed the SDF against ISIL, said the purpose of its alliance with the SDF had largely ended years after they defeated the jihadists.
Now, the United States was backing Syria's new authorities who are seeking to extend their control across the country after years of civil war.
Thousands of former jihadists, including many Westerners, have been held in seven prisons in north and east Syria, while tens of thousands of their suspected family members live in the Al-Hol and Al-Roj camps.
At Al-Hol, the AFP correspondent saw soldiers open the camp's metal gate and enter, while others stood guard.
The camp in a desert region of Hasakeh province holds around 24,000 people, including some 6,200 women and children from around 40 nationalities.
The Defense Ministry said it was ready to take responsibility for Al-Hol camp "and all ISIL prisoners" after the SDF said they had been "compelled to withdraw" from the site to defend
On Jan. 20, the Interior Ministry said 120 ISIL members escaped from the Shadadi prison in Hasakeh province, later saying it had arrested "81 of the fugitives.”
Syria's presidency on Jan. 20 announced an "understanding" with the SDF over the fate of Hasakeh province and gave them "four days for consultations to develop a detailed plan" for the area's integration.
This development came as U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said that SDF’s role as the "primary anti-ISIL force on the ground" has "largely expired.”
"Historically, the U.S. military presence in northeastern Syria was justified primarily as a counter-ISIS partnership," Barrack on X, noting that no functioning central government existed under the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Syria's situation has "fundamentally" transformed with Damascus joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL as its 90th member in late 2025, he wrote.
Washington is actively enabling the handover rather than extending a separate role for the terror group, and the U.S. "has no interest in long-term military presence" in the region.
The "greatest opportunity" for Kurds lies in the "post-Assad transition under the new government," offering "a pathway to full integration" into a unified state with citizenship rights, cultural protections and political participation, he added.
