Overview
- Fighting intensified outside al‑Aqtan near Raqqa, Deir al‑Zour and al‑Shadadi, with the SDF saying it lost control of the Shaddadi facility after a government assault.
- Iraqi officials reported dozens of militants escaped from al‑Aqtan and Deir al‑Zour, and Baghdad dispatched additional forces to the border.
- Footage showed detainees fleeing Deir al‑Zour as government troops exchanged heavy fire with Kurdish positions around the prisons.
- The SDF warned seizures of detention sites could trigger serious security repercussions; the network holds about 9,000 IS fighters and roughly 40,000 women and children, including several dozen British nationals.
- Shamima Begum remains at al‑Roj and is pursuing a European court challenge to her 2019 citizenship removal, which UK ministers say they will defend.