SDF hunt down IS militants after
prison retake
AFP , Thursday 27 Jan 2022
Kurdish-led forces hunted down jihadists hiding in the Gweiran prison Thursday, after the prison was hit by an Islamic State group attack a weak ago, as human rights groups appealed for urgent help for wounded inmates.
Kurdish-led forces hunted down jihadists Thursday after retaking a Syria prison hit by an Islamic State group attack a week ago, as human rights groups appealed for urgent help for wounded inmates.
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Search operations across the sprawling complex in the city of Hasakeh found some jihadists still holed up in one wing of the prison a week after the brazen jailbreak attempt began.
The assault and ensuing clashes around the prison left more than 200 people dead in the jihadists' most high-profile military operation since the loss of their "caliphate" nearly three years ago.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they had retaken full control of Gweiran prison on Wednesday, ending six days of battles that turned the largest city in northeastern Syria into a war zone.
In a statement on Thursday, the SDF said search operations inside the jail revealed "pockets of terrorists hiding in a northern section of the prison."
It estimated that around 60-90 fighters were still holed up in one section of the jail and said that its forces have called on them to surrender.
It said that 3,500 IS inmates have so far surrendered to its forces.
In a statement overnight, the SDF said it was "chasing down IS cells on the southwestern outskirts of Hasakeh city".
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "coalition aircraft targeted IS fighters hunkered down in areas around the prison overnight, killing at least seven."
It said 151 IS jihadists, 53 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians had been killed in the six days of violence.
The Kurdish authorities have insisted no inmates escaped from the compound but the Observatory has said significant numbers got away.
'Broader Crisis'
Gweiran held an estimated 3,500 IS inmates, including around 700 minors, when the initial IS attack began with explosives-laden vehicles driven by suicide bombers.
"The Kurdish-led forces' recapture of the prison ends this immediate deadly ordeal, but the broader crisis involving these prisoners is far from over," Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday.
"The US-led coalition and others involved need to quickly ensure that all prisoners, especially the wounded, ill and children, are safe and receive food, water and medical care," it added in a statement.
Prisoners who surrendered were being transferred to safer facilities as operations in Gweiran continued, the SDF said.
Kurdish authorities say more than 50 nationalities are represented in Kurdish-run prisons holding more than 12,000 IS suspects.
The Kurdish administration has long warned it does not have the capacity to hold, let alone put on trial, all the IS fighters captured in years of operations.
"I think we should not have been surprised, we have been warning about this for quite some time," UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council Wednesday when asked about the attack.
The administration's foreign policy chief Abdulkarim Omar said it was up to the international community to put foreign jihadists on trial or repatriate them.
The IS threat is "like a fireball, it gets more dangerous and complicated with time," he told AFP on Wednesday.
The self-declared IS caliphate, established in 2014, once straddled large parts of Iraq and Syria.
After five years of military operations conducted by local and international forces, its last rump was eventually flushed out on the banks of the Euphrates in eastern Syria in March 2019.
The attack was the largest by ISIS since 2019
BY MAX HAUPTMAN | PUBLISHED JAN 26, 2022
Photo: Syrian Democratic Forces.
Thousands of Islamic State fighters have surrendered after almost a week of fighting at a prison in Syria. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced Wednesday that they had re-taken control of the al-Sina’a prison in the northeastern Syrian town of Hasakah.
A coalition official confirmed that “thousands” of ISIS prisoners were surrendering after almost a week of fierce fighting at the prison complex.
“The Coalition stands with our SDF partners who have fought with bravery and determination in Hasakah,” said Maj. Gen. John Brennan, Jr., commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, adding that, “The makeshift prisons throughout Syria are a breeding ground for Daesh’s failed ideology. We must thoroughly investigate the circumstances that allowed this attack to happen.”
The attack on al-Sina’a prison in Hasakah began with a series of car bombings at the prison complex, triggering a riot after some detainees overpowered guards. The prison is one of several across northeastern Syria, where thousands of captured ISIS fighters have been held since 2019, when coalition-led Kurdish forces captured the last major territory held by the group.
U.S. forces had assisted the SDF with airstrikes by Apache helicopters and F-16 jets.
On the ground, Bradley fighting vehicles provided perimeter security to SDF forces. Other footage showed what appeared to be U.S. special operations personnel taking up positions around the prison.
“We provided some support, real time surveillance, some airstrikes, and some ground support, mostly in the form of Bradley Fighting Vehicles positioned to help assist security in the area,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.
A coalition official confirmed Wednesday that the Bradley fighting vehicles “took and received fire” during the operation.
Footage released by the SDF showed re-captured detainees being led away from the prison.
“The final dance of the venom snakes in al-Sina’a prison,” read a statement from SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. “Game over Daesh.”
William Christou
Lebanon
26 January, 2022
The SDF says it has defeated a six-day long IS attack on a prison in Hasakeh, securing the safety of hostages in the process.
An SDF spokesperson said that the hostages were safe although other reports claimed otherwise [Getty]
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Wednesday that they had regained full control of Ghwayran prison and secured the hostages held there, ending a six-day standoff with IS fighters which left at least 180 dead and 6,000 displaced.
The SDF's media centre announced on Wednesday afternoon that the prison had been reclaimed by SDF fighters and that all IS fighters had surrendered.
A spokesperson for the SDF, Aram Hanna, told The New Arab that all hostages had been rescued and that they were all in good health, though media reports have previously reported injuries and even deaths among the hostages.
Nearly 850 children had been held hostage by IS, with rights groups warning that the some of the children were injured and deprived of food and water.
Hanna’s account contradicted voice notes sent by minors in the prison which spoke of children and other hostages who were injured and perhaps even possibly killed.
One 17 year-old Australian hostage told his family that he had suffered a head wound and described seeing dead bodies around him.
At least 1,000 IS prisoners surrendered to the SDF, though it is unclear how many actually participated in the attack, and how many managed to escape. The prison housed up to 3,500 suspected IS fighters, including nearly 850 children between the ages of 12-18.
Hanna said that most of the hostages will be housed in temporary detention facilities, with the fate of others still unknown.
TheIS attack started last Thursday night with car bombs exploding by the prison walls, and fighters targeting the exterior of the prison.
At the same time, detainees staged a riot within the prison, attacking guards and taking prison staff hostage.
The SDF, with the support of the US-led coalition against IS, surrounded the prison and tried to entice IS fighters to surrender.
The Coalition conducted airstrikes on the prison and used Apache helicopters to target fighters from above.
The SDF also worked to secure the surrounding neighbourhoods, as IS fighters holed up in civilian homes and fired rounds from there.
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The presence of hostages in the prison made recapturing it difficult, with the SDF saying their priority was to secure the safety of the hostages rather than eliminate IS fighters.
The prison attack was the most significant attack by IS in Syria and Iraq since the group was territorially defeated in March 2019. Analysts have warned that the latest attacks signify the group’s growing strength and resurgence.
The SDF has housed 12,000 alleged IS fighters – 3,000 of them foreigners – in makeshift, dilapidated detention facilities since the fall of IS's self-styled "caliphate".
Despite calls for international assistance, most foreign nations have dragged their feet in repatriating their nationals. The Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the SDF, has accused the international community of abandoning their responsibilities.
On Wednesday, 130 Syrian civil society organizations issued a demand that the international community “start holding IS members accountable.”
The groups said that conditions for IDPs in northeast Syria need be improved, security conditions around the prisons should be strengthened, and that the UN should set up an evidence-gathering mechanism for crimes committed by IS and set up a process to hold the extremist group's members to account.
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