SOHR: Save the Children, 700 kids trapped in ISIS jail

 

A reported 700 children and teens of various nationalities are detained in the Syrian prison of Gweiran, in the country’s north-east, stormed on January 20 by ISIS militants, who gained control despite repeated attempts by local Kurdish forces supported by the United States, the international humanitarian organization Save the Children said on Monday. According to the organization, some minors could have been killed and wounded during armed clashes, although the report has not been confirmed so far. In a statement, Sonia Khush, director of the program Syria for Save the Children, said that “what we hear from the prison of Gweiran is deeply anguishing. Reports of killed or wounded children are tragic and outrageous”.

The clashes erupted last Thursday after in the night between Wednesday and Thursday a commando of jihadist militants stormed the prison of Gweiran, in the main city of Hasake. From January 20 until today, fighting between the sides did not stop and expanded instead to the districts of Hasake near the prison. At least a few dozens of ISIS detainees escaped, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the victims of clashes are over 150, also according to the monitoring group.

Save the Children recalled that “many of the teens caught in the midst of fighting have been detained in the prison of Gweiran for nearly three years”, since ISIS was declared defeated in 2019 by US and Kurdish forces. They are children and teens “coming from dozens of foreign countries, as well as from Syria and Iraq”, the organization said.

 

 

Source: ANSAmed