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

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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.