Local sources told Al-Jazeera in Syria that clashes, described as severe, continue between the Syrian Democratic Forces and ISIS elements in the Ghweran neighborhood of the northeastern city of Hasaka, after Kurdish forces thwarted an ISIS attack on Ghweran prison the day before yesterday, Thursday, which resulted in the death of more than 70 people, in A time when Iraq reinforced its borders with Syria after the Al-Hasakah events.

The local sources said that clashes are taking place in the vicinity of the Industrial Secondary Prison in the Ghweran neighborhood, adding that the US-led international coalition aircraft targeted a sewing workshop adjacent to the prison.

The people of Ghweran neighborhood demanded the Syrian Democratic Forces to lift the siege imposed on them, and to bring in foodstuffs.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, tweeted, "The area around the prison was completely cordoned off, and all the fugitives were arrested."

In Washington, the US Department of Defense said that the US-led coalition launched air strikes to support the Syrian Democratic Forces as they responded to the prison break-in.

Victims of clashes

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated today, Saturday, that the ongoing clashes for the third day led to the killing of 28 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces and allied forces, 45 fighters from the “Islamic State” organization, and 5 civilians in the Ghweran neighborhood, where the prison that the organization attacked with the aim of releasing its detained members there is located. .

#Hasakah:


The arrival of reinforcements from the special commando units of the Syrian Democratic Forces, to head to the vicinity of #Sinaa_Prison, south of Al-Hasakah.


Al-Hasakah - Orhan Karaman - # North_Press pic.twitter.com/2K2yiPRAHd

— North Press Agency - Arabic (@NPA_Arabic) January 21, 2022

The observatory stated that the Syrian Democratic Forces arrested hundreds of ISIS prisoners, while dozens of them are still at large, without specifying the total number of prisoners who managed to escape from Ghweran prison.

The attack on the prison is the largest launched by ISIS since its defeat in Syria in March 2019.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, whose backbone is the Kurdish People's Protection Units, repelled the attack on the prison, the largest attack by ISIS since its defeat in Syria in March 2019, and this is the second time since last December that the organization attacked the prison in an attempt For the release of prisoners of its members.

Reuters reported that a military source in the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces stated that the attack on the prison coincided with the organization's movements in Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria, and its attacks in Iraq.

Iraqi forces

In a related context, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi directed yesterday, Friday, the security forces to tighten procedures on the border with Syria against the background of the events in Al-Hasakah Governorate, after an emergency meeting chaired by Al-Kazemi of the National Security Council, which discussed security developments throughout the country and on the borders.

The Iraqi-Syrian border has been a security concern for the Baghdad authorities for many years, as ISIS militants infiltrate through it, in addition to PKK members.

Despite the expulsion of ISIS from most of the lands it controlled in Syria since 2019, its cells continue to carry out attacks in areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian regime.

And US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said last year that 10,000 ISIS fighters were still being held in camps run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls most of the province of Hasaka.