ISIS member tells French newspaper: HTS releases me

A report published by Le Monde revealed details of the escape of dozens of ISIS mercenaries from the “Chinese Comb” prison in al-Shaddadi, in the countryside of al-Hasakah, more than a week ago, based on the testimony of one of the escaped militants.

The mercenary, Ahmad Hussein (25), told the newspaper: “On 18 January, at four o’clock in the afternoon, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fired fireworks and gunshots at the prison… Their intention was not to kill us. They stormed the cell doors and released us. They used their weapons to break the locks, and members of the tribes were with them.” He added that he was wounded in his hand during the storming of his cell and abandoned the orange prison uniform before fleeing, using blankets as cover.

The ISIS mercenary said the prison housed a mix of ISIS detainees, noting that some foreign prisoners had been transferred to al-Sinaa Prison in al-Hasakah in 2021.

The recent escape operations came after attacks by factions of the Syrian interim government on al-Shaddadi and its surrounding areas.

The report also noted that the US Central Command announced the start of transferring up to 7,000 ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, a move it said aims to curb further escape operations and secure prisons outside the control of Kurdish forces, amid a lack of trust by the United States and the international coalition in the factions of the Syrian interim government.

A-H 

ANHA