Syrian government and Kurdish-led force exchange prisoners in a step toward easing tensions

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — Syrian authorities and a Kurdish-led force exchanged Monday more than 400 prisoners as part of a deal reached earlier this year between the two sides.

The exchange in the northern city of Aleppo is a step in the process of confidence- building measures between the government in Damascus and the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. A similar exchange took place in April.

Mulham al-Akidi, the deputy governor of Aleppo province, said 470 prisoners were released by both sides adding that the exchange “aims to reduce tensions on the ground.” He added that if there are more prisoners they will be released in the near future.

Yasser Mohammed Hakim said he was detained six months ago after he drove into an SDF-controlled area by mistake. The man added that he was held in a jail where members of the Islamic State group are held in Syria.

“They put us with the biggest terrorists,” Hakim told The Associated Press after his release by the SDF. “I am a civilian who took the wrong road. I lost six months of my life.”

In March, Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the main U.S.-backed force there into the Syrian army.

Since the deal was signed, the clashes between the SDF and the Syrian National Army, a coalition of Turkey-backed groups, almost stopped in northern Syria after months of fighting that left dozens killed or wounded on both sides.

Syria’s new rulers are struggling to exert their authority across the country and reach political settlements with different ethnic and religious groups in the war-torn nation.

A member of the government security forces, right, laughs with fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces during a prisoner exchange in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

A recently released prisoner gestures during a prisoner exchange between Syrian authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Kurdish women flash victory signs as they celebrate the release of prisoners during an exchange between Syrian authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Freed prisoners sit inside a bus following their release during a prisoner exchange between Syrian authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Trump left his Palm Beach, Florida, club, Mar-a-Lago, around 6:20 p.m. for the roughly 10-minute drive to the airport, but took a circular route around the city to get there.

During the drive, police officers on motorcycles created a moving blockade for the motorcade, at one point almost colliding with the vans that accompanied Trump.

Air Force One was parked on the opposite side of the airport from where it is usually located and the lights outside the plane were turned off.

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

President Donald Trump departs Trump International Golf Club in the presidential limousine, known as The Beast, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)