SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) regained full control of a Sina’a prison in Hasakah on Wednesday, spokesman Farhad Shami said in a tweet.
ISIS militants attacked the prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah on January 20 in an effort to free prisoners, including the group’s leaders.
At least 200 prison inmates and militants were killed and 30 members of the SDF and local security forces died since the attack on the jail.
The jail is the largest among several publicly known ones where the SDF holds suspected militants and other detainees in what aids groups say are overcrowded and inhumane conditions.
Shami said on Wednesday that all remaining ISIS militants had surrendered, according to Reuters.
The Pentagon has confirmed that the U.S.-led coalition carried out air strikes and deployed ground troops in support of the SDF operation.
“Daesh remains an existential threat to the region and it must not be allowed to regenerate,” said U.S. Major General John Brennan Jr., commander of Combined Joint Task Force, Operation Inherent Resolve, using the Arab acronym for Islamic State.
“We must thoroughly investigate the circumstances that allowed this (IS) attack to happen,” he said in a tweet.
Brennan also said the troubles exposed flaws in the overcrowded prison system. “The makeshift prisons throughout Syria are a breeding ground for Daesh’s failed ideology.”
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says the SDF holds about 12,000 men and boys suspected of ISIS affiliation, including 2,000-4,000 foreigners from almost 50 countries.
There was no mention by the SDF of the 850 children and minors caught in the crossfire when the SDF aided by U.S. forces began to storm the prison on Monday.
The children were detained during U.S.-backed campaigns that finally drove Islamic State from its last territorial enclave in Syria in 2019.
