The Islamic State (IS) attacks a prison in Syria to free terrorist militia fighters. More than 100 people die in subsequent fighting.
Al-Hassaka – After an attack by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia on a prison in Al-Hassaka in north-eastern Syria, at least 120 people have been killed in days of fighting. At least 77 IS fighters and 39 Kurdish security forces have died since Thursday (January 20, 2022), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Seven civilians were among the dead. Fighting between IS and security forces continued on Sunday (January 23, 2022) for the fourth day in a row.
More than 100 IS fighters launched an attack on the Kurdish-managed Ghwajran prison on Thursday to free prisoners. According to the observatory, around 3,500 suspected IS fighters have been held in the detention center, including leaders of the militia. Kurdish media even reported 5,000 supporters of the jihadists.
IS speaks of “coordinated attack” on prison in Syria
According to the observatory, the IS militia was able to free several of its members and loot weapons from the prison. How many inmates managed to escape was unclear. According to the information, more than 100 IS prisoners were recaptured after the outbreak. During the attack, the terrorists are said to have holed up in prison, and snipers were also lurking in a neighboring shell.
The jihadist militia said through its propaganda mouthpiece Amak that it had freed hundreds of IS fighters. In total, more than 800 prisoners could have escaped. The Islamic State detonated two car bombs at the entrance to the prison during the “large-scale and coordinated attack” with trucks. The prison director was also killed in the fighting.
US condemns IS attack in Syria
A video released by Amak showed several men – some in military uniform – who were allegedly kidnapped by IS during the attack on the prison. Some of the men say their names and dates of birth to the camera. The authenticity of the recordings could not be checked independently. The Kurdish-dominated military alliance Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the abductees were “kitchen staff” at the prison.
According to the observatory, “heavy fighting” broke out again on Sunday night. The Kurdish security forces, with the support of the US-led anti-IS coalition, attempted to regain control of the prison and “knock out” IS fighters in the vicinity of the detention center.
The US condemned the IS attack. For more than a year, the militia has been trying to free imprisoned IS fighters, said Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department. The SDF and the military coalition “frustrated numerous attacks” and “limited the severity” of the latest attack.
Civilians flee Syria after IS attack
The fighting around the detention center forced many civilians to flee. “Thousands have left their homes near the prison and fled to nearby areas to their relatives,” said a representative of the administration of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
According to the observatory, it was the largest attack of this kind since the dismantling of the so-called IS caliphate in 2019. At that time, IS was largely defeated militarily in Syria and Iraq. Since then he has regularly carried out attacks on mainly military installations or the oil industry.
The attack on al-Hassaka’s prison is a reminder that the fight against ISIS is not yet won and may mark a new stage in the militia’s resurgence. In neighboring Iraq, IS extremists also attacked a military base northeast of Baghdad on Friday (January 21, 2022) and, according to security circles, killed eleven Iraqi soldiers. An offshoot of the Islamic State was also behind the devastating attack on Kabul Airport in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Kurdish forces are holding thousands of IS fighters in northern Syria
The aim of the attack on the prison was to strengthen its own ranks, said expert Nicholas Heras from the Newlines Institute in Washington. The IS wants to be more than “the terrorist and criminal network that it has developed into”. Around 12,000 IS supporters are being held in prisons controlled by the Kurdish security forces in northern Syria. According to Kurdish sources, they come from more than 50 countries.
The Kurdish authorities have long warned that they do not have the capacity to detain the thousands of IS fighters in the long term, let alone bring them to justice. They demand that their home countries take back their respective citizens. Many countries have resisted this demand in recent years for fear of Islamist attacks in their own country. (tvd/AFP/dpa)
List of rubrics: © AFP
