ANKARA/BEIRUT — Turkey has sealed its entire 911-kilometre border with Syria following a coordinated ISIS-orchestrated prison break in Raqqa that freed at least 340 militants, including senior operational commanders, the Turkish Ministry of Defence confirmed Thursday.
The breaches, which began late Wednesday, targeted the Sinaa and Al-Tashla detention facilities in northern Raqqa — areas nominally under SDF control. Turkish authorities said early intelligence indicated at least 60 escapees are foreign fighters holding European, Central Asian, and North African nationalities.
Turkey’s Ministry of Defence raised its base alert level across the entire southeastern border region and ordered a full suspension of all border crossing points, including the major crossings at Oncupinar, Cilvegozu, and Sanliurfa. The Turkish Armed Forces activated additional surveillance assets along the frontier.
General dynamic map: SDF and Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria confirmed they are conducting active search-and-capture operations in Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and Hassakeh governorates. SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi called the prison break “a direct result of Turkish destabilisation of the region” and said his forces were redeploying from active operations against ISIS cells to contain the escapees.
The United Kingdom, France, and Germany issued coordinated emergency travel advisories Thursday, urging nationals to leave northeast Syria immediately and warning against all travel to the wider Raqqa and Deir Ezzor governorates.
The WHO declared a public health emergency for northeast Syria, citing catastrophic overcrowding in detention centres that had been operating at 340 percent of designed capacity prior to the break. UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called an emergency session in Geneva for Friday.
Brent crude rose 1.8 percent to $103.14 per barrel on the news, reflecting market concern that ISIS resurgence could further destabilise the region surrounding key Turkish transit routes for Caspian oil exports.
Layla Hassan is a breaking news correspondent for Media Hook covering the Middle East and North Africa. Additional reporting by Elias Barakat in Beirut.