More than 130 dead in Syria in four days of fighting between Kurdish forces and jihadists

At least 136 people, the vast majority combatants, have died in four days of clashes that continued this Sunday in Syria between the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish forces, triggered by an Islamist attack on a prison.

Thousands of civilians were displaced by the clashes around the Ghwayran prison and its surroundings, in the northeast of the country, one of the largest jihadist prisons in Syria, guarded by Kurdish forces.

Since the assault on the prison launched Thursday night by some 100 IS fighters to free their comrades, “84 jihadists and 45 Kurdish fighters have been killed” as well as “seven civilians,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. SOHR).

This attack is the largest since ISIS was defeated in Syria in 2019 by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition.

The SDF stated in a statement that “IS fighters were inside the prison compound and could no longer escape” as their forces surrounded the area.

Thousands of jihadists are detained in the north and northeast of the country, territories partly controlled by the Kurdish authorities. But the IS continues to manage to launch bloody attacks thanks to its clandestine cells.

“Fierce fighting broke out this Sunday at dawn, with the Kurdish forces trying to retake control of the prison and neutralize the jihadists who are in the surroundings,” explained the OSDH.

The prison, located in the city of Hassake, houses some 3,500 IS members, including the group’s leaders, according to this NGO, which has a wide network of sources in Syria.

– Civilian flight –

Members of the SDF searched for the jihadists and urged civilians through loudspeakers to leave the area.

The jihadists “enter houses and kill people,” one of the civilians fleeing on foot told AFP. “It is a miracle that we have survived,” he added, as he carried a child wrapped in a blanket in his arms.

The United States condemned this attack, recalling that IS has been trying to free jihadists for more than a year. He also praised the SDF and international coalition forces for opposing the prison assault.

During the fighting, in the neighborhoods north of the prison, the SDF seized explosive belts, weapons and ammunition.

In a video released on Saturday, the IS shows about twenty men, some of them in military attire, claiming that they are Kurds captured during the assault.

Commenting on the video, SDF stated that the captives were staff members who worked in the prison kitchen.

– “Better opportunity” –

“Prison breaks are the best chance for IS to regain its strength (…) and Ghwayran prison is a good target in that respect, as it is overcrowded,” Nicholas Heras of the Newlines Institute told AFP in Washington.

But for the anti-jihadist coalition, “this IS escape attempt does not constitute a significant threat.” In a statement released on Sunday night, the coalition considered that “although IS continues to be a threat, it clearly no longer has the strength of yesteryear.”

The Kurds, who control regions of northeastern Syria, have been calling in vain for years for the repatriation of the nearly 12,000 jihadists of more than 50 nationalities (European and from other areas) who are being held in their prisons.

Several of these prisons were originally schools and are therefore ill-suited to housing long-term detainees.

The war in Syria, triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrators, has been complicated over the years with the involvement of regional and international powers, in a context of jihadist emergency.

The conflict has caused half a million deaths, devastated the country’s infrastructure and forced millions of people to flee their homes to flee the fighting.