Rojava official blames int'l community for ISIS attack on prison

Karwan Faidhi Dri
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Thursday attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) against a prison in Hasaka, northeast Syria that contains thousands of the group’s members was the result of the international community’s failure to respond to ISIS threat as a global issue, a senior Kurdish official said on Saturday. 

“The massive attack by dozens of Daesh [ISIS] members on Al-Hasakah prison and its repercussions are the result of the international community’s failure to shoulder its responsibilities towards this big and serious issue, which we consider to be an international problem,” said Abdulkarim Omar, co-chair of the Kurdish administration’s foreign office, in a tweet. 

Omar told ANF, a media outlet affiliated to the Kurdish administration, on Friday that they have “consistently appealed to the international community for ISIS militants in jails and camps. We warned that the current situation could not be maintained. The world and international community must carry out their responsibilities in dealing with the ISIS problem.” 

“Every country should take its citizens back. Those who do not accept them should come and assist us, and ISIS members should be prosecuted,” he added. 

Ghweran prison in Hasaka was attacked by ISIS after it detonated a vehicle near the jail. Tens of the prison’s nearly 5,000 prisoners managed to escape but they were recaptured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the US carried out airstrikes in support of the SDF in the battle against the prison break attempt by ISIS, reported Military Times. 

Barzan Farman, Rudaw reporter near the prison, said early Saturday that the airstrikes continued, noting that a large number of people from areas near the prison have fled their houses. 

ISIS controlled swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territories in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively. 

Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the SDF, said in a tweet late Friday that ISIS has “mobilized most of its sleeper cells in attempt to organize a jailbreak near the Hasakah prison with suicide bombers and an insurgency by detainees inside the prison.” 

“Our security forces mobilized and succeeded with the help of the Coalition to repel the attack and the area around the prison was completely surrounded and all fugitives were arrested,” he added. 

Kurdish and American officials and commanders have called on the Western countries several times to repatriate their ISIS-affiliated citizens but only a few have responded positively. 

There are over 10,000 ISIS prisoners in northeast Syria (Rojava) and ISIS-affiliated families make up the majority of the population of the notorious al-Hol camp which consists of about 56,000 people.