Kurdish fighters were deployed to northeastern Syria on Monday in preparation for an assault on a prison attacked by jihadists in Hassakeh, raising serious concerns about the fate of hundreds of minors still being held there. .
On January 20, more than a hundred members of the Islamic State (IS) group stormed with truck bombs and heavy weapons the Ghwayran prison, one of the largest housing jihadists in war-torn Syria. .
Fierce fighting between Kurdish forces and IS fighters has been going on for several days in and around the prison following the attack, the biggest claimed by the IS group since its defeat nearly three years ago. years in Syria.
According to a new report established Monday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), 154 people were killed in five days of fighting between Kurdish and jihadist forces – 102 jihadists, 45 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians.
Nearly 45,000 people fled their homes after the prison was stormed and the intense fighting ensued, according to the UN.
Spearheading the fight against the IS group, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US-led coalition have “begun breaking into parts of the prison, which remains under control of the IS group” after releasing several Kurdish fighters and staff members detained by the IS group, according to the OSDH.
The IS group fighters have holed up in a building on the north side of the prison, according to the NGO.
The FDS indicated in a press release that around 300 fighters from the IS group had surrendered following a raid against one of the buildings where they had gathered within the penitentiary center.
An Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent on the spot saw buses and military vehicles transporting suspected IS fighters from the prison.
According to human rights groups and the UN, more than 700 minors are believed to be detained in Ghwayran, a former school converted into a very overcrowded detention center, housing at least 3,500 suspected members of the IS group.
Trapped miners
According to Eva Hinds, the spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the fate of the trapped minors, of whom around 10% are believed to be 15 years old or younger, was a source of “serious concern”.
“The FDS had initially allocated a special section for children,” said Mr.me Hinds. “Many of them have adult relatives inside [de la prison] and have since joined them in other sections. »
According to Sara Kayyali, researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), “children are indeed trapped” in the prison.
The researcher said she received a voicemail from an injured miner in Ghwayran saying that “there are dead bodies everywhere”. “Children are at considerable risk on both sides. »
The NGO Save the Children, which also received a voice message from a minor pleading for help, called for the immediate evacuation of the children from the prison.
In their statement, the FDS reported the presence of minors in the prison, taken “hostage” and used as “human shields” by the jihadists, to protect themselves from attacks.
Coalition support
The main support for the Kurdish forces during their offensives against the IS group, the coalition forces based in the region have massively deployed in Hassaké.
In a statement on Monday, the Washington-led coalition said the jihadist attack was “a desperate attempt to close ranks and regain lost momentum”. “The coalition is determined to make sure it fails,” she said.
The Kurdish authorities have decreed “a complete curfew in Hassaké and its surroundings for seven days from January 24”, in order “to prevent members of terrorist cells from escaping”. Apart from those of first necessity, the shops are closed.
With northeastern Syria in the grip of freezing cold, civilians living near the prison do not know where to flee.
Eighty-year-old Hamcha Sweidan told AFP: “We were going to die of hunger and thirst, but “now we don’t know where to go”.
According to Nicholas Heras, of the Newlines Institute in Washington, “prison breaks represent the best opportunity for the IS group to regain its strength, and Ghwayran prison is a good target, because it is overcrowded”.
The Kurds, who control parts of northern and northeastern Syria, have been calling for years in vain for the repatriation of some 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities – European and other – detained in their prisons.
Despite its defeat in 2019, the IS group still manages to carry out deadly attacks thanks to sleeper cells.