Farhad Shami, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, dominated by the Kurds), announced in a statement that they had regained “full control” of the prison in the city of Hassake (northeast), after all the IS fighters, who had been entrenched for six days, surrendered.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) confirmed the recovery of the detention center.
More than a hundred fighters of the Islamic State (IS) stormed last Thursday with heavy weapons the Ghwayran jail, which houses jihadists and is overseen by Kurdish militias in Hassake, in northeastern Syria.
The SDF, with the support of the international coalition led by the United States, have been trying ever since to retake control of the prison. They managed to tighten the siege and the IS fighters began to surrender.
The clashes unleashed after the attack left 181 dead since January 20, among them 124 jihadists, 50 Kurdish combatants, and seven civilians, according to OSDH balance. But that balance could increase as Kurdish forces and medical services gain access to all parts of the prison.
The SDF – the de facto army of the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration – had said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Islamic State inmates had surrendered.
The OSDH, which has numerous sources in that country, considers that this has been the “largest and most violent” attack by IS since it was militarily defeated in Syria in March 2019.
This former school turned detention center would house some 3,500 suspected jihadists, including Westerners, according to the SOHR. According to the UN and human rights groups, hundreds of minors would be imprisoned in Ghwayran.
Some 45,000 inhabitants who lived in the areas surrounding the prison were forced to leave their homes in the cold after the assault.
The Kurds, who control large swaths of territory in northern and northeastern Syria, have called in vain for the repatriation of the nearly 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities imprisoned in their prisons.
On Wednesday, the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration renewed its appeal to the international community for help, fearing the Islamic State could grow stronger by recruiting new fighters.
Source From: Ambito
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