Three ex-Islamic State terrorists from Gaza escape Syrian prison

Three Islamic State operatives from Gaza who used to fight under the group’s banner in Iran and Syria have escaped from a Kurdish detention facility in northeast Syria amid an ongoing Turkish offensive, i24NEWS revealed on Thursday.

The three jihadists were held in a Kurdish prison in the town of Tel Abyad, a major target for the Turkish armed forces, a senior source in the Gaza Strip told i24NEWS.

On Wednesday, the three spoke to their families by telephone, the source said.

One of the escaped jihadists is identified by the initials AG and is said to be a senior operative within the group’s security establishment who was arrested in September 2018.

A resident of Rafah, he was at one time part of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

Another terrorist is identified as HN, also a Rafah resident and an ISIS fighter arrested in early 2018. He is believed to have left the Gaza Strip in 2016, traveled to Turkey, and joined ISIS in Syria from there.

MS, the third escaped jihadist, is a resident of Khan Younis and a former member of the Hamas military wing. He joined the terrorist group in Sinai, where its affiliate was fighting the Egyptian forces, and then moved to Libya.

Between 2016 and 2017, ISIS suffered a defeat in Libya, losing control over the key stronghold of Sirte, which prompted the terrorist to relocate with others to Syria.

Source: Israel Hayom