Syria
Recaptured ISIS prisoners are lined up by SDF forces following a prison break attempt in February 2022. Photo: handout/SDF
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday that the Islamic State (ISIS) is mobilizing its cells in northeast Syria (Rojava) in a bid to destabilize the region.
ISIS is “willing to create chaos by mobilizing its cells to hit stability & security after its great loss in Sina’a prison,” tweeted the SDF, adding that the local security forces are working hard to provide security and prevent ISIS attacks.
Minutes later, the SDF announced the arrest of a wanted member of ISIS near Raqqa city.
“The wanted individual was active in facilitating transportation, & was willing with his cell to hit security, stability, & threaten civilians,” it said.
ISIS attacked al-Sina’a prison in Hasaka on January 20 with explosive-laden vehicles and other weapons. This led to over a week of intense clashes between ISIS fighters and the SDF. Control of the prison was retaken by the SDF with the support of the global coalition against ISIS, with the recaptured prisoners transferred to another prison.
The SDF held over 4,000 ISIS prisoners, including minors, before the attack. The forces said that 121 of its fighters, prison guards and civilians as well as 374 ISIS members were killed in the clashes, without confirming the number of the alleged escapes.
Rojava security forces also arrested a suspect allegedly planning a suicide attack in the notorious al-Hol camp, a conflict monitor reported on Monday.
The SDF arrested thousands of ISIS fighters and their wives and children when they took control of the group’s last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Most of these people are held at al-Hol, which is home to around 56,000 people – mostly women and children of different nationalities.
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