Sunday, January 23, 2022

Syria battle between IS, Kurdish forces kills over 120: monitor





Sun, January 23, 2022

A fierce battle raged in Syria for a fourth day Sunday between US-backed Kurdish forces and Islamic State group fighters who have attacked a prison, killing at least 120 people including seven civilians, a war monitor said.

More than 100 insurgents late Thursday attacked the Kurdish-run Ghwayran jail in Hasakeh city to free fellow jihadists, in the most significant IS operation since its self-declared caliphate was defeated in Syria nearly three years ago.

Intense fighting since then has seen the militants free detainees and seize weapons stored at the jail, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in what experts see as a bold IS attempt to regroup.

"At least 77 IS members and 39 Kurdish fighters, including internal security forces, prison guards and counter-terrorism forces, have been killed" inside and outside the prison since the start of the attack, the Observatory said.

At least seven civilians are among those who died in the fighting in the northeastern city, said the monitor.

The battles continued for a fourth consecutive day on Sunday as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by coalition strikes, closed in on jihadist targets inside and outside the facility.

"Fierce clashes broke out overnight Sunday... as part of an ongoing attempt by Kurdish forces to restore control over the prison and neutralise IS fighters deployed in surrounding areas," said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

- 'A miracle we made it out' -

An AFP correspondent in the city's Ghwayran neighbourhood reported the sound of heavy clashes in areas immediately surrounding the jail, which houses at least 3,500 suspected IS members.

The SDF deployed heavily in areas around the prison where they carried out combing operations and used loudspeakers to call on civilians to leave the area, the correspondent said.

IS fighters "are entering homes and killing people," said a civilian in his thirties who was fleeing on foot.

"It was a miracle that we made it out," he told AFP, carrying an infant wrapped in a wool blanket.

"The situation is still very bad. After four days, violent clashes are still ongoing."

Hamsha Sweidan, 80, who had been trapped in her neighbourhood near the jail, said civilians were left without bread or water as the battle raged.

"We have been dying of hunger and of thirst," she told AFP as she crossed into SDF-held areas in Hasakeh city. "Now, we don't know where to go."

IS has carried out regular attacks against Kurdish and government targets in Syria since the rump of its once-sprawling proto-state was overrun in March 2019.

Most of their guerrilla attacks have been against military targets and oil installations in remote areas, but the Hasakeh prison break could mark a new phase in the group's resurgence.

- Weapons and captives -


The Observatory said that Kurdish forces had managed to recapture more than 100 IS detainees who had tried to escape, but that many more were still on the run. Their exact numbers remained unclear.

IS, in a statement released on its Amaq news agency overnight, claimed that it took over a weapons storage room in the prison and freed hundreds of fellow jihadists since the operation began with a double suicide bombing.

A video it released on Amaq purported to show IS fighters carrying the group's black flag as they launched the attack on the facility and surrounded what appears to be a group of prison guards.

A second video released Saturday showed nearly 25 men whom IS said it had abducted as part of the attack, including some dressed in military fatigues.

AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

Commenting on the video, the SDF said the captives were "kitchen staff" from the jail.

"Our forces lost contact with them during the first attack," it said in a statement, without elaborating.

The Kurdish authorities have long warned they do not have the capacity to hold, let alone put on trial, the thousands of IS fighters captured in years of operations.

According to Kurdish authorities, more than 50 nationalities are represented in a number of Kurdish-run prisons, where over 12,000 IS suspects are now being held.

Many of the IS prisoners' countries of origins have been reluctant to repatriate them, fearing a public backlash at home.

ho/fz

Dozens killed as fighting rages on after IS prison attack in eastern Syria


Fighting raged for a third day Saturday between the Islamic State group and Kurdish forces in Syria after IS attacked a prison housing jihadists, with the violence killing nearly 90 people, a monitor said.
© AFP

The assault on Ghwayran prison in the northeastern city of Hasakeh is one of IS's most significant since its "caliphate" was declared defeated in Syria nearly three years ago.

"At least 28 members of the Kurdish security forces, five civilians and 56 members of IS have been killed" in the violence, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

IS launched the attack on Thursday night against the prison housing at least 3,500 suspected members of the jihadist group, including some of its leaders, the Observatory said.

The jihadists "seized weapons they found" in the detention centre and freed several fellow IS fighters, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside war-torn Syria for its information.

Hundreds of jihadist inmates had since been recaptured but dozens were still believed to be on the run, it added.

With air support from the US-led coalition, Kurdish security forces have encircled the prison and are battling to retake full control of surrounding neighbourhoods, which jihadists have used as a launchpad for their attacks.


The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said "fierce clashes" broke out in neighbourhoods north of Ghwayran, where it carried out raids and killed more than 20 IS fighters.

An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish fighters raiding homes in the flashpoint area near the jail in search of militants while coalition helicopters flew overhead.

In one location, Kurdish fighters gathered around five bloodied corpses of suspected IS fighters that had been placed along the roadside, the correspondent said.

'No one but God'

The battles have triggered a civilian exodus from neighbourhoods around Ghwayran, with families fleeing for a third consecutive day in the harsh winter cold as Kurdish forces closed in on IS targets.

"Thousands have left their homes near the prison, fleeing to nearby areas where their relatives live," Sheikhmous Ahmed, an official in the autonomous Kurdish administration, told AFP.

But not all the displaced had a safe haven.

"We don't know where we are going," said Abu Anas, who was forced out of his home on Saturday.

"We have no one but God," he told AFP as he fled on foot with his wife and four children.

IS has carried out persistent attacks against Kurdish and government targets in Syria since the rump of its once-sprawling proto-state was overrun in March 2019.

Most of them have targeted military outposts and oil installations in remote areas, but the Hasakeh prison break could mark a new phase in the group's resurgence.

IS said in a statement released by its Amaq news agency that the attack on the jail aimed to "free the prisoners".

An IS video released by Amaq on Saturday purported to show armed jihadists infiltrating the prison at the start of the operation.

They raised the group's black flag as they stormed the facility and surrounded what appears to be a group of prison guards.

AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

It was not immediately clear whether the prison break was part of a centrally coordinated operation -- timed to coincide with an attack on a military base in neighbouring Iraq -- or the action of a local IS cell.

'Fat target'

Analyst Nicholas Heras of the Newlines Institute in Washington said the jihadist group targeted the prison to bolster its numbers.

The Islamic State group "wants to move beyond being the terrorist and criminal network that it has devolved into, and to do that it needs more fighters," he told AFP.


"Prison breaks represent the best opportunity for ISIS to regain its strength in arms, and Ghwayran prison is a nice fat target for ISIS because it's overcrowded," he said, using another acronym for IS.

The Kurdish authorities have long warned they do not have the capacity to hold, let alone put on trial, the thousands of IS fighters captured in years of operations.

They say more than 50 nationalities are represented in Kurdish-run prisons, where more than 12,000 IS suspects are now held.


Many of the prisoners' countries of origins have been reluctant to repatriate them, fearing a public backlash at home.

The autonomous administration's top foreign policy official, Abdulkarim Omar, blamed the prison attack on the "international community's failure to shoulder its responsibilities".

The war in Syria, which broke out in 2011, has killed close to half a million people and spurred the largest conflict-induced displacement since World War II.

(AFP)

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