ISIS attempt to break Syrian prison triggers fears over its resurgence in region

Fears over the resurgence of the Islamic State have been triggered since ISIS attempted to break thousands of its fighters out of a Syrian prison on Thursday and at least seven fighters from US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces were killed. According to CNN, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that the assault on the Ghweran prison which is located in the northeastern city of Hasakah started on Thursday with a car bomb exploding outside the facility.

The Kurdish-led SDF is presently the dominant military force in the region and is also a crucial partner of the United States in the fight against ISIS. Islamic State better known by its Arabic synonym Daesh, is a militant Sunni Islamist group. Reportedly, ISIS fighters snuck into the area after the explosion and struck local forces guarding the prison. Meanwhile, the militants inside burned the blankets and plastic items inside dormitories “in an attempt to create chaos," the SDF said.

However, as per the report, it still remains unclear how all the actions were coordinated or if the inmates simply tried to bag the opportunity to spark confusion at a vulnerable moment. CNN stated that SDF said it “thwarted” the attempted jailbreak. But, small clashes were still reported in the area Friday. Additionally, ISIS said on Friday that it was launching a “large-scale” attack to liberate the entire prison. 

US-led coalition supported airstrikes to fend off ISIS attack

Later, SDF head said that they had fended off the attack support of airstrikes from the United States-led coalition in Iraq and Syria tackling the militant group. Separately, during a press conference on Friday, US Department of Defence or Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed the airstrikes. Kirby said, “On whatever support the Coalition has been given to the SDF as they have dealt with this and continue to deal with this prison break, I can tell you that we have provided some airstrikes to support them as they deal with this particular prison break”.

Head of SDF Media Center Farhad Shami told CNN on Friday that the SDF killed at least 28 ISIS militants in the clashes. SDF said in a statement that around 87 prisoners managed to escape at the opportune moment but have since been recaptured.

Image: AP