Syria: Kurdish forces monitor jihadists after a prison attack

Earlier in the day, it was announced that Kurdish forces had regained control of the Islamic State group (EI), a week after a bloody attack that killed more than 200 people, and that its authorities were hunting down jihadists inside prisons and around the establishment in northeastern Syria. .

A search of the prison led to the discovery of “pockets of terrorists” hidden in one part of the establishment, where about 60 to 90 militants are still entrenched, and Syrian Democratic Forces have issued a statement (FDS) calling for their surrender.

The SDF, the leader of the Kurdish supremacy and the fight against IS in Syria, announced on Wednesday that it had completed six days of fighting and regained full control of the Guaran prison. The Kurdish autonomous administration controls large parts of northern and northeastern Syria.

The January 20 IS attack on the prison, where several thousand jihadists were detained, was the most significant attack by ISIS on Kurdish forces since their regional defeat in Syria in 2019.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) in the United Kingdom, with the support of the US-led coalition fighting IS, “searched the cells and surroundings around the prison,” the ministry said. Network of sources on the war in Syria.

According to OSDH, “joint planes targeted IS militants rooted in the area around the prison and killed at least seven of them.”

– Crisis “from afar” –

The same source says that 151 jihadists, 53 Kurdish militants and seven civilians have been violently killed in Hassakai since the prison attack began on January 20.

The establishment had at least 3,500 jihadists, including about 700 minors who were attacked by IS truck bombs and heavy weapons. UN And human rights groups say hundreds of children are being held at the former school, which has been converted into a detention center.

“The capture of the prison by Kurdish-led forces puts an end to this deadly experiment, but the broader crisis involving these prisoners is still a long way off,” Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

According to the SDF, the surrendered prisoners were transferred to more secure facilities. For years, the Kurds have been vainly calling for the deportation of about 12,000 jihadists from more than 50 countries – from Europe and other countries – who are being held in their prisons.

But most Western countries refuse to repatriate all their citizens detained in prisons and camps under Kurdish control, contented with deportation in droplets and stench.

Experts see the jihadist attack as a step towards the resurgence of IS, which has retreated into the Syrian desert after defeats in Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2017.