On the night of January 20, ISIS launched its most complex operation in years, assaulting the al-Sina’a Prison (also referred to as Gueran) in Hasakah. Using SVIEDs (suicide vehicle improvised explosive device), ISIS members penetrated the prison and managed to infiltrate neighborhoods around it.
The prison was then surrounded by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and a multi-day battle ensued. American jets and helicopters engaged the area in support of SDF forces.
Hundreds are reported to have died on both sides. It is still unclear if all pockets of resistance have been stomped out, as the SDF has continually announced that the prison was cleared, just for them to then admit that there were still pockets of resistance. It is unclear how many ISIS members launched the attack and how many escaped the prison.
Most of the ISIS prisoners housed at al-Sina’a were foreign fighters who’s home countries have refused to repatriate them. There were over 1000 ISIS prisoners before the attack.
This has been the largest ISIS operation since the group’s territorial defeat in 2019.
It seems like a clear indication that the these foreign fighters must be repatriated to their home countries and prosecuted for their crimes. It is both unfair and unwise to leave them in Eastern Syria, as the SDF is strained by constant clashes with Turkish backed groups and does not have the capacity to deal with so many people. It also is an indication that the SDF’s counterinsurgency operations have been ineffective.
One of ISIS’s first moves in the early years of the war in Syria was launching prison breaks in both Syria and Iraq. This bolstered their numbers, allowing them to carry out larger operations.
If you would like sources for all of this, please see my twitter page, as I have retweeted all of this information there.