Nearly 100 people held by PKK/YPG terror group freed in Aleppo under deal with Syria government

Nearly 100 people detained by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization in Aleppo were released on Thursday as part of a deal reached with the Syrian government.

In exchange, the Syrian regime released 97 PKK/YPG members.

The exchanges took place at the Layramoun Junction in Aleppo province, following the agreement signed by the two sides on Tuesday.

As part of the first phase of the swap, the group freed approximately 100 people who had been held since the Baath regime's collapse.

Following the regime's downfall, the PKK/YPG infiltrated central Aleppo and detained a large number of ordinary people, raising widespread concern about their fate.

Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party's regime, which had been in power since 1963.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period on Jan. 29.

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK—listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU—has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 victims, including women, children, and infants. The YPG/PYD, which also uses the name SDF, is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye, while the YPG/PYD has tried to establish a terror corridor in northern Syria along Türkiye's borders.