DAMASCUS (Parliament Politics Magazine): Kurdish forces moved inside a Syrian prison on Wednesday, where Daesh group fighters had been locked up with children for six days, despite international requests for help to stop a jihadist comeback.
Last Monday, more than 100 Daesh jihadists invaded Ghwayran jail in Hasakah, northeast Syria, which is run by a semi-autonomous Kurdish administration.
The jihadists freed fellow Daesh militants, seized weapons, and took control of a succession of cell blocks during their audacious attack on the Kurdish-run institution, which included a double suicide bombing.
It is thought to be the group’s most sophisticated assault since it was vanquished territorially in Syria about almost three years ago.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurdish and allied fighters carried out careful search operations within jail blocks and in areas that surround the facility on Wednesday, where intermittent fighting had erupted overnight.
As per the UK-based monitor, US-backed Kurdish forces were “moving in slowly” inside the jail where jihadists were still locked up.
According to the Observatory, fighting within and around the prison has killed 181 people since Thursday. The deaths included124 Daesh militants, 50 Kurdish fighters, and seven civilians.
Fears were expressed about the fate of juveniles incarcerated at Ghwayran, which held approximately 700 youngsters among 3,500 Daesh suspects before the attack.
Letta Tayler, Human Rights Watch researcher, said that they were afraid of being shot if they tried to leave. They were begging for food, water, and medicine and added that she had spoken with three inmates, one of whom was a kid.They want the UN “or another international institution” to negotiate their safe evacuation, according to Tayler.
A Newlines Institute analyst, Nicholas Heras, said the bigger possibility of this ending is with the Daesh militants being completely defeated at the prison.
However, the SDF and the US-led coalition’s worst nightmare scenario is a protracted confrontation that kills hundreds of people, including many children.
According to the Observatory, Kurdish troops have liberated 32 prison personnel since Monday, several of whom were seen in a video that Daesh shared on social media after the attack.
The Kurdish government has long cautioned that it has no capability to imprison, let alone prosecute, the thousands of Daesh members caught over the course of years of operations.
On Wednesday, the administration’s chief foreign policy officer, Abdulkarim Omar, told AFP,
“This issue is an international problem.”
“We cannot face it alone.”
He said, the autonomous administration needs support in improving humanitarian circumstances and security for inmates in detention centres and those in overcrowded camps.
Image via Reuters Archive
