Over 100 people have been killed in clashes between the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) terrorists and Kurdish forces after ISIS launched a deadly attack on a prison in northeastern Syria on Thursday in a bid to free its members.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday that 123 people had died in the clashes so far, including 77 ISIS fighters, 39 members of Kurdish forces and seven civilians. However, the SOHR noted that the death toll could be “even higher” as the “fate of dozens [of] members on both sides is still unknown.”
ISIS, also known as Daesh in Arabic, launched its biggest offensive in Syria on Thursday since its fall three years ago, when more than 100 militants launched an attack on the Ghwayran prison in the Al-Hasakah city. Hundreds of ISIS prisoners managed to escape from the prison, where over 3,500 Daesh prisoners are being held, after militants detonated a car bomb near the prison gates.
The United States (US) backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of largely Kurdish fighters, said that several inmates had taken control over parts of the prison and that it was working towards securing the prison as fighting entered the fourth day on Monday.
The ISIS prison break in Syria is turning into an insurgency. They appear to control a portion of the prison and nearby streets. SDF is battling to take back control. Civilians are fleeing. This is how it started in 2013-14 pic.twitter.com/B1ypPf7keK
— Liz Sly (@LizSly) January 22, 2022
The SDF vowed to strengthen their efforts to combat Daesh and prevent them from launching a major attack in the future. The SOHR also reported that while the SDF had arrested over 100 IS prisoners that escaped, several other prisoners are still free and their numbers are unknown.
The US condemned the attack and said that it would help the SDF in their fight against Daesh. US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Saturday that the attack highlights the need to fully fund the Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS’s efforts.
He also said that Daesh’s attack “underscores the urgent need for countries of origin to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate and prosecute […] their nationals detained in northeast Syria.”
Moreover, the coalition released a statement on Sunday saying that its forces conducted a series of airstrikes on ISIS fighters who were attacking the SDF from buildings near the prison. “The coalition retains the right to defend itself and partner forces against any threat, and will continue to do everything in its power to protect those forces,” the statement read.
“In their own desperate attempt to display relevance, Daesh delivered a death sentence to many of their own who participated in this attack,” Maj. Gen. John W. Brennan, commander of the joint task force, said. However, Brennan noted that ISIS remains an “existential threat” in the region.
Three years after it was comprehensively defeated in Iraq and Syria, Daesh has been slowly trying to stage a comeback in both countries. In 2021, ISIS militants conducted over 300 operations in Syria and launched an average of 87 attacks per month in Iraq, including two major suicide bombings in January and July last year, each of which killed more than 30 people.