IS launched an assault on this prison in the northeast of the country, with the aim of “freeing the prisoners”.
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Fighting between the Islamic State (IS) group and Kurdish forces continued for the third consecutive day, Saturday, January 22, in northeastern Syria. “At least 28 members of the Kurdish security forces, five civilians and 56 IS fighters have been killed” since the start of the attack on Ghwayran prison, reported the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
IS launched an assault overnight from Thursday to Friday against this prison, located in the city of Hassaké, the OSDH said. In a press release issued by “his press agency” Amaq, the jihadist group claimed that the objective of this attack was “to free the prisoners”. Some 3,500 suspected IS members, including leaders of the group, are incarcerated in Ghwayran prison.
According to the OSDH, which has a vast network of sources in Syria, the jihadists “[se sont] seized weapons they had found” in the armory of the detention center. The NGO also claimed that the prison was surrounded by Kurdish forces, with the support of the air force of the international coalition, and that hundreds of IS prisoners had been arrested. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday that the clashes were concentrated in neighborhoods north of Ghwayran, where raids took place. “killed a number of IS fighters who had attacked the prison”. Dozens of detainees managed to escape following this attack, the largest since the defeat of IS in 2019 in Syria, according to the OSDH.