SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States urged its allies to repatriate suspected Islamic State (ISIS)-linked nationals detained in northeast Syria, after the militant group attacked a prison to free its fighters.
The U.S. called on its partners in the international coalition to defeat ISIS to “improve the secure and humane detention of ISIS fighters, support rehabilitation initiatives, and urgently repatriate their nationals and other detainees remaining in northeast Syria,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
He also praised the SDF “for their heroic and effective response to the sustained ISIS attack”.
ISIS militants attacked Sina’a-Ghweran prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah on January 20 to free the group’s fighters.
On Monday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the prison was now fully under its control, thwarting a dangerous plot by the militants to launch further, multiple attacks across the volatile region.
The Kurdish-led group said more than 120 of their fighters and prison staff died in the 10-day standoff at the prison, which houses at least 3,000 ISIS suspects.
Some 374 ISIS militants, including the initial attackers, were also killed, it added.
The SDF appealed for the international community’s help in taking responsibilities for the tens of thousands of ISIS fighters and their families in detention centers and camps under its control.
ISIS’ “desperate and violent tactics are a grave reminder to the world that the terrorist group remains a threat that can and must be defeated,” he said in a statement.
“Due to the effective response of the SDF, in partnership with U.S. and Coalition forces, senior ISIS leaders were captured or killed during the attempt to free detained ISIS members from detention” he added.
