Syria: IS takes control of a prison containing 3,500 jihadists including important leaders

File photo from October 26, 2019: Men suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, gathered in a prison cell in the city of Hasakeh, in northeastern Syria.

AFP - FADEL SENNA

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Eighteen members of the Kurdish security forces were killed in an attack by the Islamic State group on a prison in the city of Hassakeh in northeastern Syria.

On the morning of Friday, January 21, fighting continued inside and outside the prison, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and sources close to Damascus.

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With our correspondent in Beirut,

Several hours after the assault on Ghwayran prison in the city of Hassaké, coupled with an assault from outside, Kurdish forces had still not regained control of the detention center on Friday morning.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that hundreds of members of the Islamic State group took control of the prison after seizing weapons and ammunition belonging to the garrison.

A careful strategy on the part of IS

The jihadists provoked a mutiny after a daring assault outside the prison.

Islamic State group fighters detonated a car bomb and a fuel tanker near the main gate.

Jihadist sleeper cells then attacked Kurdish forces around the prison, which holds the largest number of detainees from the Islamic State group in the world: 3,500 jihadists including key leaders, according to the Syrian Observatory.

Syrian government troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the SDF, supported by the international coalition led by the United States, share control of this major city in northeastern Syria.

The FDS have sent in large reinforcements to try to regain control of the situation, supported by coalition helicopters which are combing the surroundings of the prison using machine guns, where a curfew has been declared.

🔴 New mutiny, in conjunction with an #IS offensive, at Ghouiran prison in #Hassaké under the control of the Kurds of #Syria, where 5,000 #jihadists, including French, are detained.

Several jihadists would have managed to escape pic.twitter.com/11Ir5j5HMy

— Jean-Charles Brisard (@JcBrisard) January 20, 2022

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• Syria

• IS

• Kurds