For the fourth consecutive day, battles between
jihadists and strengths
kurds supported by the international coalition continued to rage this Sunday in
Syria with a balance sheet increased to more than 130 dead.
Triggered Thursday evening by a major assault by the jihadist group Islamic state (EI) against the Ghwayran prison (north-east), one of the largest housing jihadists in Syria and guarded by Kurdish forces, the clashes forced thousands of civilians to flee in freezing cold. The assault was launched by some 100 IS fighters to free their comrades from the prison in Hassakeh, an area part of Kurdish-controlled territory in Syria.
3,500 jihadist detainees held in the prison
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), “77 jihadists and 39 Kurdish fighters have been killed” in four days, as well as “seven civilians” in the fighting taking place in and around the prison. The attack is the largest claimed by IS since its 2019 defeat in Syria by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition.
“Fierce fighting broke out before dawn on Sunday. Kurdish forces are trying to regain control of the prison and neutralize the jihadists in the surrounding areas “of the detention center which houses some 3,500 jihadists, said the OSDH. The FDS are supported by the air force of the international coalition.
Jihadists on the loose
Members of the SDF were deployed in force in and around the prison, searching for the jihadists and calling via loudspeakers for civilians to leave the area. The jihadists “enter the houses and kill people”, said one of the civilians fleeing on foot. Hamcha Sweidan, an 80-year-old woman who also managed to escape, said: “We were going to die of hunger and thirst”. And “now we don’t know where to go”. According to the Kurdish authorities, thousands of people have left their homes near the prison.
The attackers said they seized weapons and freed “hundreds” of jihadists. More than 100 of the escapees were caught up by Kurdish forces but dozens are still on the run, the OSDH said. Thousands of jihadists are held in detention centers in the vast territories of northern and northeastern Syria under the control of the Kurdish authorities. Many prisons were originally schools and are therefore ill-suited to holding inmates for the long term.
A war since 2011
According to the Kurdish authorities, some 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities – European and other are detained in their prisons. They have been asking for their repatriation for years in vain. Despite its defeat, IS still manages to carry out deadly attacks using sleeper cells.
Triggered in March 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, the war in Syria has become more complex over the years with the involvement of regional and international powers and the rise of jihadists. The conflict has killed around 500,000 people according to the OSDH, devastated the country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of people.