SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdish-led group said on Thursday 60-90 Islamic State (ISIS) militants still holed up in the dormitories of a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah.
On Wednesday, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Farhad Shami said the group regained full control of Sina’a prison in Hasakah city and that all remaining remnants had surrendered.
The SDF, however, said in a statement that between 60-90 ISIS “terrorists barricaded themselves” in the prison’s northern dormitories.
“Our forces have made a call for safe surrender to these terrorists,” the SDF stated. “In case they did not surrender, we will deal with them firmly.”
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 SDF said around 3,500 “terrorist detainees involved in the last mutiny to support the terrorist attackers coming from outside” had surrendered.
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.
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.
