Prison raid ISIS’s biggest target since caliphate’s end

Fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish forces has raged for three days - and killed nearly 90 people - after an attack on a Syrian prison housing ­jihadists.

Syrians flee their homes in Ghwayran on Saturday. Picture: AFP

Fighting has raged for a third days between Islamic State and Kurdish forces in Syria after the Islamic State attacked a prison housing ­jihadists, with the violence killing nearly 90 people.

The assault on Ghwayran prison in the northeastern city of ­Hasakeh is one of Islamic State’s most significant since its “caliphate” was declared defeated in Syria nearly three years ago.

“At least 28 members of the Kurdish security forces, five civilians and 56 members of ISIS have been killed” in the violence, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday.

Islamic State launched the attack late on Thursday against the prison, which houses at least 3500 suspected members of the jihadist group, including some of its leaders. The jihadists seized weapons and freed several fellow Islamic State fighters.

Hundreds of jihadist inmates have since been recaptured but dozens are still believed to be on the run.

With air support from the US-led coalition, Kurdish security forces have encircled the prison and are battling to control surrounding neighbourhoods, which jihadists have used as a launch pad for their attacks.

The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces said “fierce clashes” broke out in neighbourhoods north of Ghwayran, where it carried out raids and killed more than 20 Islamic State fighters.

A woman talks on the phone in the Ghwayran neighbourhood in the northern city of Hasakeh on the third day of fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish forces. Picture: AFP

The US State Department on Sunday condemned the Islamic State attack, praised the SDF’s response and noted that insurgents had been trying to free jihadist prisoners for more than a year.

The battles have triggered a civilian exodus from neighbourhoods around Ghwayran, with families fleeing in the harsh winter cold as Kurdish forces closed in.

“Thousands have left their homes near the prison, fleeing to nearby areas where their relatives live,” said Sheikhmous Ahmed, an official in the autonomous Kurdish administration.

Not all the displaced found safety. “We don’t know where we’re going,” Abu Anas, forced out of his home on Saturday, said as he fled with his wife and four children. “We have no one but God.”

 Islamic State has carried out persistent attacks against Kurdish and government targets in Syria since the rump of its once-sprawling proto-state was overrun in March 2019. Most of them have targeted remote military outposts and oil installations, but the Hasakeh attack could mark a new phase in the group’s resurgence.

Analyst Nicholas Heras of the Newlines Institute in Washington said Islamic State targeted the prison to bolster its numbers and “move beyond being the terrorist and criminal network that it has devolved into”.

“Prison breaks represent the best opportunity for ISIS to regain its strength in arms, and Ghwayran prison is a nice fat target for ISIS because it’s overcrowded,” he said.

Kurdish authorities have long said they do not have the capacity to hold, let alone put on trial, the 12,000 Islamic State fighters captured in years of operations.

AFP