ISIS continues attacks on Kurdish-held prisons in Syria
As the war in Syria approached its 12th year, a possible comeback of ISIS is still a concern
Where once the so-called Islamic state or ISIS, had its capital, residents continue to live in fear, even today.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had ousted the group with the help of the United States in 2017. Still, residents are on high alert: in December ISIS had attacked a local security complex in an attempt to free hundreds of fellow jihadists from a prison. In Raqa, authorities declared a lockdown and a state of emergency. Checkpoints were set up at the entrances to the city.
“It seems the militants have been planning to take control of this prison, to cause confusion and sow chaos. For these reasons, we launched this sweep,” said Ali Hassan, Brigadier General of the Kurdish-led police.
Now, Kurdish fighters are on guard and patrol the streets, warning residents to stay inside. People are traumatized from the time of the ISIS reign, where terror, mass executions and other atrocities were common. The fear of a return of the Islamic State is taking its toll.
“I’m scared, really scared, I can’t help it. Whenever I see a soldier, I feel scared. I can’t control it, look, even my hand started shaking, I’m just scared,” said Umm Mohammed, a Raqa resident.
ISIS does not hold fixed military positions, but engages in sporadic attacks and campaigns to free its prisoners in different areas. Groups like the Syrian Democratic forces try to combat them but this might not be enough.
“There needs to be a different way. No matter how many security campaigns they launch, they won’t be able to confiscate all their weapons. So, an awareness campaign is more important than a security campaign. They can reach greater achievement by raising awareness among people, rather than searching houses in vain. They haven’t even managed to confiscate 5 percent of the weapons ISIS owns,” Ahmed Hamad, another Raqa resident said.
As the war in Syria approached its 12th year, a possible comeback of ISIS is still a concern. In January 2022, the group staged its biggest attack to free prisoners from the city of Hasakeh. Hundreds were killed in the week-long battle around the prison. ISIS appears to have moved away from individual attacks to collective assaults and local Kurdish groups are gearing up.
Source: i24news
