The latest on what’s happening in Syria – CNN

Turkey claims Kurdish fighters released ISIS prisoners from a holding facility in northeast Syria as the ongoing Turkish operation raises concerns of an ISIS resurgence. 

During a raid on a prison in the town of Tal Abyad on Monday, Turkish forces determined that the prisoners had been set free “in an attempt to fuel chaos in the area,” said a senior Turkish official who cannot be named due to protocol.

Some background: The part of Syria that’s now under attack by Turkey has been controlled by the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the armed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a defense force mostly made up of Kurds.

Ankara considers the YPG — a Kurdish fighting force that makes up the majority of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — to be an offshoot of the PKK, which is considered to be a terrorist group by Turkey.

US officials have told CNN there are no indications that the SDF have intentionally released any of the 10,000-plus ISIS prisoners in SDF custody as part of a bid to draw International support in the face of a Turkish assault on Kurdish areas in north Syria.

While the SDF has repeatedly highlighted the danger of ISIS escaping to draw attention to the issue and draw international support, they have made it clear that they need to prioritize their personnel, redeploying forces that had been guarding the detention camps to the front with Turkey, leaving some of the camps undermanned or even near totally abandoned.