Trump Calls Syria’s Jihadi President Ahmad al-Sharaa as Kurds Denounce Beheadings, ISIS Prison Break

President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Monday to discuss the conflict between Sharaa’s forces and the Kurds of northeastern Syria who have complained of abuses by government troops and blamed them for releasing around 120 Islamic State terrorists from a Kurdish-run prison in Hasakah province.

According to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, Trump and Sharaa “stressed the importance of preserving Syria’s territorial unity and independence, and supporting all efforts aimed at achieving stability” during their phone conversation.

SANA said the two leaders agreed on the “need to guarantee the rights and protection of the Kurdish people within the framework of the Syrian state,” and on the importance of working together against the resurgent Islamic State.

“President Al-Sharaa and President Trump voiced a shared aspiration to see a strong and unified Syria capable of confronting regional and international challenges,” SANA’s report on the call said.

The White House did not immediately release its own summary of the call, or dispute SANA’s account.

Sharaa, who took power after his jihadist and insurgent alliance overthrew dictator Bashar Assad in December 2024, has long struggled to bring the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) under his new government. The Kurds have enjoyed a significant degree of political and economic autonomy and they have their own militias and police forces.

The SDF was a major ally of the United States and Western powers against the Islamic State during Syria’s long civil war, but President Trump placed a heavy bet on Sharaa’s ability to build a unified post-Assad government that would deal fairly with Syria’s many ethnic and religious factions.

Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda officer and jihadi who fought against American troops in Iraq, but Trump was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as a reformed statesman, and Sharaa seemed eager to secure the diplomatic and economic support that could be gained from the Western world by delivering the inclusive government he promised.

The Kurdish problem was increasingly vexing for Sharaa, as the Kurdish-led SDF refused to disarm or submit its forces to control by Damascus. Sharaa argued that Syria could not become unified if the Kurds maintained their own autonomous enclave and military forces, especially since the region the Kurds refer to as Rojava includes valuable oil assets.

The Kurds were unwilling to fully trust Sharaa, especially since his ruling coalition includes jihadi groups that have little in common with the Kurds beyond mutual antipathy toward the Islamic State.

Fighting broke out in December between Sharaa’s forces and the SDF in the city of Aleppo, with each side accusing the other of launching unprovoked attacks. Kurdish leaders said the fighting in Aleppo was the latest example of jihadists slipping Sharaa’s leash, and Kurds uploaded social media videos of Islamist militias engaging in human rights violations including beheadings and the sexual enslavement of Kurdish women.

The Kurds also warned that fighting in their territory threatened the security of prison camps where the SDF has been holding captured ISIS terrorists. These fears were realized on Monday when at least 120 ISIS detainees escaped from al-Shaddadi prison in northeastern Syria. The SDF said the number of escapees was much higher, with up to 1,500 inmates on the loose “including both foreign and Syrian nationals.”

The Syrian Interior Ministry said on Monday evening that government forces recaptured 81 of the escaped militants and were conducting “targeted and systematic” search operations in the surrounding area to find the others.

The SDF claimed government forces had deliberately released ISIS fighters from al-Shaddadi, and were planning to do the same at the al-Aqtaan prison, which has been under siege by government forces. The SDF said Sharaa’s government should be held accountable for “any humanitarian or security repercussions” from the siege, which has reportedly cut off food and water supplies to the prison camp.

On Tuesday, after negotiations with Damascus reportedly broke down, Kurdish forces withdrew from the massive al-Hol detention camp, which the SDF has managed for over a decade. Al-Hol houses a large population of the wives and children of ISIS fighters, including some who traveled overseas to marry and serve Islamic State jihadis.

The SDF said it had to abandon the camp in order to redeploy its forces to “cities in northern Syria that are facing increasing risks and threats.”

“Due to the international indifference toward the issue of the ISIS terrorist organization and the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing this serious matter, our forces were compelled to withdraw from Al-Hol Camp,” the SDF said in a statement on Tuesday.

Shortly before announcing its withdrawal, the SDF reported “violent clashes” were occurring between its forces and “Damascus-affiliated factions” near the camp.

SANA countered with accusations that the SDF “abandoned guarding al-Hol Camp and released those who were being held inside it,” leaving it up to the Syrian Arab Army and Internal Security Forces to “enter the area and secure it.” 

Jihan Hanan, administrator of the al-Hol camp, told the leftist outlet New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday that “families are fleeing from the camp” amid the “chaos” of the SDF withdrawal, and “burning the buildings and offices” on their way out. The NYT previously promoted Assad as a “confident” and “friendly” ruler during the brutal Syrian Civil War, which ended with his ouster.

Both the SDF and Damascus have publicly urged each other to adhere to the ceasefire agreement reached on Sunday between Sharaa and SDF leader Mazloum Abdi — a rather poor deal for the Kurds, who had refused much better offers to fully integrate with Sharaa’s government, but found themselves in a poor bargaining position after a string of battlefield defeats over the past few weeks.

Among other concessions they had previously been unwilling to make, the Kurds agreed to relinquish control of the gas and oil fields in their area, and to submit their troops to the Syrian national army as individuals, rather than joining in battalions with Kurdish officers.

The SDF almost immediately accused Damascus of violating the ceasefire with further offensive actions, and they were not pleased with the U.S. role in negotiating the lopsided agreement, with some Kurds viewing it as a betrayal of their long alliance with America against the Islamic State.

Damascus and the SDF announced a new four-day ceasefire on Tuesday. Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, credited the U.S. with helping to arrange the new ceasefire, describing the Trump administration as “a valued partner since Day One in engagement with the SDF.”

“We would hope that this agreement holds. We’re working with our partners at the United States to make sure that it holds,” he said.

Olabi said the Sharaa government retains Washington’s confidence that it will “deliver on all our promises,” including measures to “enshrine Kurdish rights.”