Laith Al-jnaidi and Rania Abushamala
25 January 2026•Update: 26 January 2026
DAMASCUS / ISTANBUL
Syrian security forces in the northeastern Raqqa province released 126 inmates from a prison which had been run by the terrorist group YPG/SDF, all of them under the age of 18, Alikhbaria Syria TV said Saturday.
Quoting an unnamed security source, the channel said: “Internal security released 126 prisoners from Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, all of them under 18.”
Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on US social media company X that footage posted by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) showed the detainees’ release.
“These children are not merely detainees; they are sons and daughters whose childhoods were stolen. They should have been in schools and playgrounds, not behind prison walls. Every face among them carries a story of fear, separation, and lost innocence,” he added.
Al-Mustafa stressed that “there is no slogan, justification, or security reason that can explain the presence of a child in a prison cell,” saying that their plight wounds the conscience of humanity.
On X, presidential spokesman Ahmed Muaffaq Zaidan called the detention a “full-fledged scandal carried out by gangs outside the bounds of time and place.”
On Friday, the Justice Ministry announced that it had officially taken over Al-Aqtan prison after SDF elements withdrew from it as part of extending state authority and restoring institutions to operate under the law. The Interior Ministry also began a review of the detainees’ files.
On Friday, the Syrian Army announced that its units had begun transferring SDF elements from Al-Aqtan prison and its surroundings in Raqqa to the city of Ayn al-Arab, east of Aleppo, saying this represents the first phase of implementing the Jan. 18 agreement paving the way for the government to take over the facility.
