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Photo: AFP
At least 123 people, the vast majority combatants, have died in four days of clashes that continued this Sunday in Syria between the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish forces, triggered by an attack by Islamists on a prison.
Thousands of civilians were displaced by the clashes around Ghwayran prison and its surroundings, in the northeast of the country, one of the largest jihadist prisons in Syria, guarded by Kurdish forces.
Since the assault on the prison launched Thursday night by some 100 IS fighters to free their comrades, “77 jihadists and 39 Kurdish fighters” have been killed, as well as “seven civilians,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. SOHR).
This attack is the largest since ISIS was defeated in Syria in 2019 by the Syrian Democratic Forces. (FDS), dominated by the Kurds and backed by the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States.
Thousands of jihadists are detained in the north and northeast of the country, territories partly controlled by the Kurdish authorities. But the IS continues to manage to launch bloody attacks thanks to its clandestine cells.
The prison, located in the city of Hassaké, houses some 3,500 IS members, including the group’s leaders, according to the SOHR, which has a wide network of sources in Syria.
civilian flight
The assailants managed to seize weapons and free jihadists. Hundreds of escapees were later captured, although some dozens are still on the run, indicates the OSDH.
This Sunday the fighting continued and the Kurdish forces were supported by the aviation of the international coalition.
The United States condemned this attack, recalling that IS has been trying to free jihadists for more than a year. He also praised the SDF and international coalition forces for opposing the prison assault.
During the fighting, in the neighborhoods north of the prison, the SDF seized explosive belts, weapons and ammunition.
An AFP correspondent on Saturday saw Kurdish fighters searching homes near the prison as coalition helicopters flew overhead.
These clashes have led to an exodus of civilians from areas around Ghwayran, and the flight of many families, in the midst of freezing cold.
“Better opportunity”
“Prison breaks are the best chance for IS to regain its strength (…) and Ghwayran prison is a good target in that respect, as it is overcrowded,” Nicholas Heras of the Newlines Institute told AFP in Washington
Several prisons in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria, where former IS “army” fighters are detained, were originally schools and thus ill-suited to housing detainees for long periods.
According to the Kurdish authorities, some 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities are held in prisons under their control.
Abdelkarim Omar, head of foreign policy for the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, said the IS attack on Ghwayran prison was due to “the inability of the international community to shoulder its responsibilities.”
The Kurds call in vain for the repatriation of the thousands of jihadist prisoners who have nationalities from Western countries.
The war in Syria, triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrators, has been complicated over the years with the involvement of regional and international powers, in a context of jihadist emergency.
The conflict has caused half a million deaths, devastated the country’s infrastructure and forced millions of people to flee their homes to flee the fighting.