Fears of a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq are real. On Thursday and Friday night, the jihadist group launched its largest offensive since its fall in Baghouz in March 2019.
Target? Al-Sina (also known as Quran) is a crowded prison near Hassakheh in northeastern Syria, where most of the IS militants are being held. Nearly 3,500 jihadists were detained at the former school and monitored by Kurdish forces in charge of security in the area. Among the prisoners were several leaders of the Islamic group.
This unverified video shows the chaotic effects of the ISIS sleeper cell attack on the Guerrhan prison in northeastern Syria last night. The facility holds about 5,000 detainees suspected of being linked to ISIS. Although the SDF claimed to have recaptured 89, an unknown number escaped. pic.twitter.com/T0kxuPx8b1
– Campbell Mac Timermit (ampCampbellMacD) January 21, 2022
In the aftermath of the attack, there has been relentless fighting between the Kurdish militant-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and jihadists. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that about 45,000 civilians had already fled the city. The attack killed 154 people, including 102 jihadists, 45 Kurdish militants and seven civilians. Hundreds of children are said to be held hostage by Islamic groups inside the prison.
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Hundreds of miners were taken hostage
The latter, who were imprisoned in a “rehabilitation center”, are now being held in a shelter by IS militants. Their presence affects the progress of Syrian democratic forces trying to enter the prison and accuses IS of using them as “human shields”. According to UNICEF, the number of these children will be 850, and some will be as young as 12 years old.
Islamic State militants control the “children’s section” of the Quran prison in northeastern Syria. Sdf speaker He told me this morning where “about 700 miners” are buried. Earlier SDF claimed that children were being used as human shields to prevent a final attack.
– Campbell Mac Timermit (ampCampbellMacD) January 24, 2022
In a statement, IS gives details of this unprecedented attack since the end of the war, aimed at “releasing prisoners”. “The attack, which was started by hundreds of jihadists, detonated at least one car bomb – two trucks driven by foreigners – before the militants entered the prison compound,” he writes. Release. According to the FDS, at the same time, prisoners set fire to their room and tried to attack their guards, “this demonstrates the coordination of militants inside and outside,” the French daily continued. Fighting then continued in the streets near the prison. During the attack, jihadists reportedly seized weapons from the detention center’s arsenal. Since then, the International Federation has launched strikes.
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It is difficult to verify the number of fugitives. According to the Syrian Office for Human Rights (OSDH), hundreds of escaped prisoners have been captured, but dozens are still at large. For their part, the FDS says it has arrested 89 detainees who tried to escape.
A mass discharge
The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police station, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. “Thousands of people have fled their homes near the prison and fled to nearby areas where their relatives live,” Sheikh Mohammed, executive director of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, told AFP. According to the OCHA, more than 45,000 people have left Hasakah.
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About 12,000 jihadists from more than 50 countries are being held in prisons under their control, according to Kurdish officials controlling large parts of northern Syria. These prisons, often former schools, are poorly adapted and overcrowded. “Prison eruptions and riots are at the heart of IS’s resurgence in Iraq and are a serious threat to Syria today,” Darine Khalifa, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, told Reuters. AFP. According to Release Citing a note from the French Directorate General for Homeland Security (DGSI), he said the ISI would allow the FDI to benefit from links within the FDS, which would “pay several thousand euros to free some of the leaders of the organization they consider important.”
The Kurds, realizing their difficulty in managing these twenty detention centers, are demanding the deportation of thousands more jihadist prisoners, some of them Europeans. But most countries they go to are reluctant to repatriate their citizens.
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