For six days, jihadists from the Islamic State terrorist group have been entrenched in Hassaké prison, where Kurdish forces are regaining ground.
Kurdish forces are advancing slowly on Wednesday inside a prison in Hassaké, Syria, where jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group have been entrenched for six days, amid sporadic clashes in the surroundings, reports the Syrian Observatory of human rights (OSDH).
More than a hundred jihadists inside and outside the prison took part in a coordinated assault on the establishment overseen by the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, which began on January 20 in Hassakeh, in the northeast of Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of the international coalition led by Washington, have since been working to regain full control of the area.
They “continue on Wednesday combing the dormitories of the prison” and its surroundings, according to the OSDH which has a vast network of sources across Syria.
Fighting also takes place intermittently at night, said the NGO, which had earlier indicated that it was the “largest and most violent” attack by IS since the announcement of its defeat in March 2019.
In total, the clashes since January 20 have left 181 dead, including 124 jihadists, 50 Kurdish soldiers and seven civilians, according to the latest report established by the OSDH.
According to the OSDH, the Kurdish forces have released 32 employees of the penitentiary center since Monday. They called on IS members to surrender “safely”, while rejecting the term “talks”, said SDF spokesman Farhad Shami.
“Militarily, the case is almost settled”
A Syrian leader of the IS is negotiating with the Kurds for an end to the clashes in exchange for medical treatment for the wounded jihadists, told AFP the director of the OSDH, Rami Abdel Rahman.
Foreign IS fighters would oppose the strategy, he said.
“Militarily, the case is almost settled”, assured on condition of anonymity a senior Kurdish official, while ensuring that the Kurdish forces had to “postpone (their attack on the prison) because of the presence of minors and to avoid a maximum of human losses.
According to the UN and human rights groups, hundreds of minors are detained in Ghwayran. This former school converted into a detention center is home to at least 3,500 suspected members of IS, including Westerners, according to the OSDH.
The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration has renewed its appeal to the international community for help, fearing that the IS will otherwise regain strength.
“It’s an international problem that we cannot solve alone,” Abdel Karim Omar, a senior local official, told AFP on Wednesday.
Any reproduction prohibited