SOHR: Syria ends operations in IS-hit jail; 370 killed

 US-backed Kurdish forces on Sunday said they had defeated all Islamic State group fighters left inside the Syrian jail that the jihadists stormed 10 days ago sparking battles that left over 370 dead.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the end of its mopping-up campaign inside the prison “after ending the last pockets in which IS terrorists were present,” according to a statement.

IS fighters on January 20 launched their biggest assault in years, attacking the Ghwayran prison in the Kurdish-controlled northeast Syrian city of Hasakeh, aiming to free fellow jihadists.

After six days of intense fighting, the SDF announced on Wednesday they had recaptured the prison, but intermittent clashes continued until Saturday between Kurdish fighters and jihadists near the jail.

Several IS fighters had been holed up in “northern dormitories” inside the prison, but the SDF on Sunday said they had been defeated.

IS gunmen had been hiding in prison “cellars that are difficult to target with airstrikes or infiltrate,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The war monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said operations were still ongoing near the prison hunting for escaped IS fugitives.

“Dozens of IS members managed to escape from Ghwayran prison…in the early hours of the attack,” the war monitor said.

It reported that 20 IS fighters had surrendered on Saturday, while the SDF killed another five in an exchange of fire inside the prison.

The Britain-based group said 373 people had been killed since the onset of the attack, including 268 jihadists, 98 Kurdish-led fighters and seven civilians, and warned that the numbers could still rise.

 

 

Source: The Manila Times