Fire and Riot at Kobani Prison in Northern Syria Leave at Least Seven Dead

A riot and fire at a prison in the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani in northern Syria killed at least seven people on Saturday, state media reported.

The blaze broke out after inmates rioted, according to the state news agency, which linked the unrest to tensions that had flared in the town a day earlier between Kurdish and Arab residents. The prison remains under the control of Kurdish fighters, even though Syrian government forces recently entered Kobani, which sits along the border with Turkey.

A war monitor based in Britain offered a different account of the trigger, saying the rioting began over plans by the authorities to move some prisoners to a facility in the northern city of Aleppo.

The two accounts differ on what set off the violence inside the prison, while agreeing that a riot and fire occurred and that at least seven people died.

Kobani occupies a prominent place in Syria's long conflict. A decade ago it was besieged by the Islamic State group, and it later became a launching point for a U.S.-backed Kurdish offensive that ended with the extremists losing the last fragment of territory they once controlled in 2019.

On Friday, riots erupted in the town after Kurds blamed Arabs for the killing of a Kurdish man. Tensions between Syria's Kurdish minority and the central government have remained elevated, despite recent steps to bring the northeast under the authority of the new government in Damascus.

In late August, the commander of the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced the group's formal dissolution. The force had once governed a de facto autonomous zone across Syria's northeast.