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Clashes continue after Daesh prison break

The Pentagon confirmed the US-led coalition had carried out airstrikes in support of the YPG terror group led SDF as it continues clashing with fugitive DAESH prisoners

Reuters

YPG terror group led SDF, conduct a search for Daesh militants in Hasaka, Syria.

YPG terror group led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) aided by US troops have tightened their siege of a prison housing Daesh suspects after inmates took over the facility.

Residents and officials said on Sunday that dozens of inmates were killed in the attack on the prison in northeastern Syria, under the control of the YPG/PKK terror groups, which began on Thursday.

Militants detonated a car bomb near the prison gates, helping dozens of inmates flee to the neighbouring Ghweiran district of al-Hasaka, witnesses and officials said.

The SDF initially said it had thwarted the breakout and arrested 89 militants sheltering nearby, but later acknowledged that inmates had taken over parts of the facility.

It said on Sunday the death toll of its fighters rose to 27 with over 160 of the attackers alongside 15 inmates killed in the deadliest rioting in detention centres holding thousands of suspected militants arrested after they were defeated with US support in north and east Syria.

The Pentagon confirmed the US-led coalition had carried out airstrikes in support of the SDF as it sought to end the prison break.

"The groups responsible for this brazen attack are now ultimately weaker," Maj. Gen. John W. Brennan, Jr., commander, Combined Joint Task Force, Operation Inherent Resolve said in a tweet.

Thousands of detainees

Arab tribal figures in touch with residents in the area said US coalition troops had taken over positions around the prison and planes were seen flying overhead.

It was not clear how many inmates were in the prison, the biggest facility where the SDF has kept thousands of detainees. The relatives of many inmates say they are young children and others arrested on flimsy charges or for resisting the SDF's forced conscription.

Most Arab inmates have been held without charges or trial, fuelling resentment by tribal members who accuse the SDF forces of racial discrimination, a charge denied by the Kurdish led forces.

The US-based Human Rights Watch says the SDF holds about 12,000 men and boys suspected of Daesh affiliation, including 2,000 to 4,000 foreigners from almost 50 countries.

Thousands of others are held in secret detention centres where torture is rife, civic groups say. The SDF denied the accusations.

Hundreds of children detained

The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) called for the release of nearly 850 children in the prison where it said their safety was at "immediate serious risk."

"We call for the release of children from prison. Detention of children should only be a measure of last resort and for the shortest time possible," Bo Viktor Nylund, UNICEF Syria Representative, said in a statement.

The inmates are held in overcrowded prisons where conditions are inhumane in many cases, according to Human Rights Watch and other rights groups.

Many Arabs, who form a majority of the inhabitants of the areas under the control of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, accuse the Kurds of forcible conscription of youths and discrimination in jobs, an allegation rejected by Kurdish officials.

Local elders say support for Daesh, which has resorted to guerrilla attacks since losing its last significant piece of territory in Syria in 2019, has grown with rising local resentment against the Kurdish-led rule.

SOURCE: Reuters