SYRIAN government forces took control of a prison holding members of the Islamic State (Isis), their wives and children in the north of the country today, after hundreds of Kurdish fighters evacuated from the area as part of a recent deal.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the government’s prisons authority is now in charge of al-Aqtan prison north of the northern city of Raqqa, and the files of the detainees are being reviewed.

Al-Aqtan prison is the second jail to come under government control after troops entered Shaddadeh prison on Monday near the border with Iraq, from where 120 Isis detainees managed to flee amid the chaos. Most of them have been recaptured, state media said.

The move into al-Aqtan prison comes two days after the US military said that it has started transferring to Iraq some of the 9,000 Isis detainees held in more than a dozen detention centres in north-east Syria — controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF was the main force fighting Isis in Syria over the past decade, and in March 2019 captured the last sliver of land that the extremists held.

During the battles against Isis, thousands of extremists and tens of thousands of women and children linked to them were taken and held in prisons and at al-Hol camp, which was taken by government forces on Wednesday.

The capture of al-Aqtan prison came after government forces surrounded it from all sides earlier this week during a two-week offensive against the SDF.

Negotiations had been ongoing for days, after which a deal was reached to open a corridor for the nearly 800 SDF fighters to head west toward the region of Kobani, which is still controlled by the group.

US envoy Tom Barrack said in a statement on Tuesday that the SDF’s role as Syria’s primary anti-Isis force “has largely expired” since the new government is “both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities.”

The US isn’t interested in “prolonging a separate SDF role,” he said.