Islamic State fighters surrender after British and US special forces help reclaim Syrian prison

Hundreds of Islamic State (IS) jihadists have surrendered after British and US special forces helped Kurdish fighters reclaim a Syrian prison complex after a lethal, six-day siege. 

Deadly clashes broke out last week when IS staged a sophisticated jailbreak attack, aimed at freeing thousands of the group’s fighters locked up in Gweiran prison in the northeastern city of Hassakeh.

It was the extremists’ most violent assault since losing their territory in Syria three years ago.

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said the Western-backed Kurdish militia were in “entire control” of the prison and had secured the surrender “of all Daesh terrorists,” using another term for IS militants.

The prison is the largest facility for IS suspects in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, holding an estimated 4,000 people from dozens of countries. 

Aerial footage showed heavy damage to the UK-funded facility, which was attacked by several IS suicide vehicles and also by US-led coalition air strikes. British and American special forces were deployed to support the SDF. 

There was no immediate news of at least 700 children detained in the prison, though one prisoner told Human Rights Watch he thought “tens” of boys had been killed. 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 124 militants and prisoners were killed, while 50 SDF fighters and seven civilians had died.

It was unclear whether prisoners had escaped during the attack, which began last Thursday with an estimated 100 IS fighters assaulting the complex and continuing to fight in the surrounding neighbourhood for a week. 

Photo – Fighters of the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) escort two IS members who just surrendered near Ghwayran prison in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria. EPA-EFE/AHMED MARDNLI

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