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Syrian security forces have freed 126 minors from Al-Aqtan prison in the northeastern province of Raqqa, a facility previously run by the YPG/SDF, Syrian state media reported Saturday.
Alikhbaria Syria TV, citing an unnamed security source, said all those released were under the age of 18.
Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X that footage shared by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) documented the release of the minors.
“These children are not merely detainees; they are sons and daughters whose childhoods were stolen,” al-Mustafa said, adding that they should have been in schools and playgrounds rather than prison cells.
He said their detention reflected fear, separation and lost innocence.
Presidential spokesman Ahmed Muaffaq Zaidan also commented on X, describing the detention of minors as a “full-fledged scandal carried out by gangs outside the bounds of time and place.”
On Friday, the Justice Ministry announced it had officially taken over Al-Aqtan prison after SDF elements withdrew as part of efforts to extend state authority and restore institutions to operate under the law.
The Interior Ministry said it had begun reviewing detainees’ legal files.
The Syrian Army said its units had also started transferring SDF elements from Al-Aqtan prison and surrounding areas in Raqqa to the city of Ayn al-Arab, east of Aleppo.
The move was described as the first phase of implementing the Jan. 18 agreement that paves the way for the government to assume full control of the facility.
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