RAQQA, Syria -- Syria's ministry of interior said Tuesday that 120 Islamic State members escaped from a prison in northeast Syria a day earlier, amid clashes between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which guards the prison.

DAMASCUS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Syria on Tuesday announced a ceasefire with Kurdish forces it has seized swathes of territory from in the northeast and gave them four days to agree on integrating into the central state, which their main ally, the United States, urged them to accept.

In the so-called world of strategic alliances, things often are not what they seem to be. It is that way with the Islamic State or ISIS, which supposedly is a

U.S. Central Command said the first transfer involved 150 IS members, who were taken from Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakeh to “secure locations” in Iraq. The statement said that up to to 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Monday that forces affiliated with the Syrian government attacked Shaddadi prison in Hasaka in Syria's northeast, where it said thousands of Islamic State militants were being held.

Syrian government forces have taken full control of camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to the Islamic State group

A third round of retaliatory strikes by the U.S. in Syria has resulted in the death of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated leader.