A video widely distributed on January 22 shows a Kurdish fighter filming himself in front of 21 bodies, after the evacuation of a prison in Kobani in Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces recognize the authenticity of the images, but believe that those killed had fought. What our Observer, released from the same prison, contradicts.

Published on: 02/05/2026 - 2:56 p.m. Modified on: 02/05/2026 - 3:19 p.m.

Warning: comments made in this article may be shocking.

This is a video shared notably on Facebook on January 22, by an account based in Germany but since closed. It is particularly chilling. A man, who appears to be affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces, an organization mainly led by Kurds, films himself in a selfie in front of lifeless bodies lined up on the ground. He is smiling, a rifle slung over his shoulder. He states in particular that "one of the fighters" of the FDS - who would have participated in the massacre - "spoke with irony of the idea of ​​trapping the bodies, before withdrawing" to explode them. A second video shows the bodies being hit by gunfire, without us seeing who the shots came from.

These images document a killing that took place on January 22 near Kobane, in northern Syria. According to a local Facebook page, Radar Sarine, and videos shared on the same social network, at least 21 young men were arrested and then summarily executed during an operation carried out by FDS fighters, against prisoners who had just been released by the FDS from Yeddi Qawi prison near Kobané.

Fifteen bodies recovered

On January 19, clashes took place between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Bir al-A‘ma region, near the Tishrine dam, south of Kobané. The FDS were then in retreat from Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa during the month of January. In this context of the FDS retreating towards Kobané with significant military resources, the Yeddi Qawi prison, located in the south of the city, was opened in still unclear circumstances, leading to the escape of hundreds of detainees. It is this sequence of events which precedes the scenes visible in the images showing bodies lined up at the side of a road, broadcast on January 22, 2026.

According to a local news page, the Syrian Civil Defense has recovered the bodies of 15 victims of the massacre near Kobane, in northern Syria, and handed them over to local authorities. The bodies were transferred to the Manbij National Hospital, where the families of the deceased were able to collect them for the funeral.

Mokhtar (pseudonym) claims to have been detained in the village prison of Yeddi Qawi before the events. He sent us a copy of the release certificate issued by the Kurdish autonomous administration, confirming his time in detention.

According to him, the events took place over several days, between January 19 and 22, 2026. Mukhtar describes an overcrowded prison, where hundreds of men, mostly Arab, were detained.

"We were told about a general amnesty. But only the Kurdish detainees began to come out. Around a hundred people. We Arabs were told to wait: 'your turn will come'. Many believed it."

On January 21, tension increased when inmates began burning equipment (blankets, mattresses, beds). Smoke fills the building.

"We were suffocating. People were screaming. At one point, the doors were opened by the FDS. Not to free us, but to prevent everyone from dying inside. I would say that between 300 and 400 detainees, including me, then left the prison and dispersed in the surrounding fields. The groups separated: some towards Sarine, others - around 30 people - towards Kobané.

“They fell before me”

On the afternoon of January 21, 2026, according to him, the detainees fled but about 1.5 km from the prison, Mukhtar said that several FDS military vehicles intercepted them. This testimony describes a first series of summary executions, before those documented by the video.

"They first shot in the air. People were running in all directions. Then they shot at us. I saw men falling in front of me. They had nothing. No weapons, no phones. They fell in front of me, four to five people died immediately, others were injured. There was panic. I managed to hide in a field, then I was arrested at an FDS checkpoint. They tied the hands of the survivors, including me. We were lying face down on the asphalt. Some soldiers wanted to execute us on the spot.

Mukhtar claims that female fighters present at the scene temporarily prevented the execution of the group to which he belonged. Groups are taken to a destination he does not know, his is taken back to Yaddi Mawa prison.

“It was revenge and ethnic discrimination”

"I was finally released again on the evening of January 22, 2026. After our release, I headed towards Aïn al-Arab (Kobané), while another group, of around 27 people, headed towards the Sarin region. Members of the Autonomous Administration [civilian branch of the FDS, Editor's note] put them in vehicles to transport them to the last point between the areas controlled by the Syrian regime and those controlled by the Kurds. "I survived with four other people after finding a roadside gas station. The owner welcomed us. Three days later, he transported us to areas outside Kurdish control."

Mukhtar estimates the total number of people executed on January 22 at between 40 and 45 people. “This figure far exceeds the 21 bodies visible in the videos, because of others executed elsewhere,” he explains.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recognized the authenticity of these images, while asserting that the victims were armed fighters killed during clashes. A version contested by the testimony of our Observer and which the images cast doubt on: we see bodies lined up in a regular manner, with no weapons visible nearby, dressed in civilian clothing.

For Adnan Al-Hussein, a journalist based in the region, these elements are decisive: "Everything indicates a secure zone. If there had been a fight, we would see traces of it. Here, we mainly see men grouped together, subdued, then killed."

“I testify for those who died”

Mukhtar knows that speaking out carries risks.

“I hesitated. But if I remain silent, they die a second time. I am not asking for international justice. I am asking that the truth be told. I am testifying for those who died”

As the identification of bodies continues in Manbij, a question remains about the exact number of victims.

On Facebook, the Radar Sarin page also published tributes to two young people who were allegedly killed: Ismail Al-Hassani, nicknamed Abu Halab, from the village of Al-Qubba, and Abbas Muhammad Al-Hussein, from the village of Al-Abdkliya, in the Sarin district. These two names correspond to those cited by our Observer.

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