According to the Kurdish authorities, who control large areas of northern Syria, some 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities are held in prisons.
The Islamic State (IS) group and the Kurdish forces clashed again this Saturday in northeastern Syria, after a large-scale jihadist attack left nearly 90 dead.
“At least 28 members of the Kurdish security forces, five civilians and 56 IS fighters have been killed” since the start of the attack on Ghwayran prison in the Syrian city of Hassake, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). It is one of the largest prisons in the country, and houses jihadists.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by Kurdish fighters and supported by the international coalition, have been at the forefront of the fight against IS, defeating the jihadist group in Syria in 2019, and expelling him from his last fief of Baguz in the province of Deir Ezzor (east).
Despite its defeat, the IS carries out bloody attacks, especially in the great Syrian desert, which extends from the central province of Homs to Deir Ezzor, on the border with Iraq.
On Thursday, the jihadist group launched an attack on this prison, which houses some 3,500 IS members, including the group’s leaders, said the SOHR, which has a wide network of sources in Syria.
This NGO indicated that the jihadists “seized weapons they found” in the detention center’s armory.
The SOHR also stated that the prison was surrounded by Kurdish forces with the support of the international coalition and that hundreds of IS prisoners were recaptured.
Dozens of detainees managed to escape after the attack, however, the largest since the defeat of IS in 2019 in Syria.
The SDF declared this Saturday that “security operations continue in the city of Hassake and in the perimeter of the Ghwayran prison” with the help of the international coalition and the Kurdish internal security forces.
According to the SDF, the clashes on Saturday were concentrated in the neighborhoods north of Ghwayran, where some 20 IS members who had attacked the prison were killed in the fighting.
These clashes have caused an exodus of civilians from the areas around Ghwayran, and the flight of many families, according to a semi-autonomous Kurdish administration official.
On Friday, in a statement issued by its propaganda organ, Amaq, the IS had claimed responsibility for the attack on the prison, stating that the objective of the operation was “to free the prisoners.”
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Need for more fighters
“IS wants to go beyond its status as a terrorist and criminal network and for that it needs more fighters,” Nicholas Heras of the Newlines Institute in Washington told AFP.
“Prison breaks are ISIS’s best chance of regaining its strength in arms, and Ghwayran prison is a good target in that respect, as it is overcrowded,” he added.
Several prisons in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria, where fighters from the former IS “army” are held, were originally schools and thus ill-suited to housing detainees for long periods.
According to the Kurdish authorities, who control large areas of northern Syria, some 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities are held in prisons under his control.
Abdelkarim Omar, head of foreign policy for the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, said the IS attack on Ghwayran prison was due to “the inability of the international community to shoulder its responsibilities.”
The war in Syria, triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrators, has been complicated over the years with the involvement of regional and international powers, in a context of emergency of the jihadists.
The conflict has caused half a million deaths, devastated the country’s infrastructure and forced millions of people to flee their homes to flee the fighting. (I)
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