Syria’s Kurdish-led forces regain control of Islamic State prison
Some two dozen hostages were freed and more than a thousand IS detainees surrendered after a six-day firefight that left at least 200 dead.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have regained control of the region’s largest prison for Islamic State detainees after a six-day battle that left more than 200 people dead.
The SDF declared the Sinaa prison in the northeast Syrian city of Hasakah secure on Wednesday afternoon after the last IS detainees inside surrendered. Some two dozen hostages were rescued, SDF officials said.
A final death toll has yet to emerge, and the fate of several hundred boys held in the prison — at least some of whom Kurdish officials said had been held hostage by IS detainees during the battle — remains unknown. Some 30 SDF members were reported to have been killed, according to spokesperson Farhad Shami.
It also remained unclear on Wednesday how many IS prisoners may have escaped. IS initially said it had freed 800 detainees, a claim the Kurdish-led security forces rejected.
