By Orhan Qereman
HASAKAH, Syria (Reuters) – The Kurdish forces guarding Islamic State fighters at a jail in northern Syria say they are opposed to handing the facility to the new Islamist rulers in Damascus as they brace for attacks by the ultra hardline group and monitor its attempts to re-emerge.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led force which holds a quarter of Syria, has said Islamic State (IS) has already attempted two attacks on prisons in a bid to break out their comrades since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power on Dec. 8, as the group seeks to exploit the upheaval.
At a prison in the city of Hasakah, where some 4,500 IS fighters, including many foreigners, are incarcerated, a Kurdish officer predicted that the group known as ISIS would try again.
“When the Syrian regime fell … ISIS seized a lot of weapons, and they will organize themselves again to attack prisons,” the officer, his identity concealed by a ski mask, told Reuters.
Reuters was granted rare access to the heavily fortified prison on Saturday, speaking to three detainees – a Briton, a Russian, and a German citizen originally from Tunisia.
The SDF has served as the spearhead of U.S.-led efforts to counter IS in Syria for a decade, driving the jihadists from their Raqqa headquarters in 2017 before capturing their last foothold – Baghouz – in 2019.
The jails have come into focus since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate, seized power from Assad and established a new government, aiming to restore central authority.
Foreign powers are at odds over who should run the jails.
Turkey, which sees Syria’s dominant Kurdish factions as a national security threat, says the jails should be handed over to the new rulers, and has offered to help them.
The outgoing U.S. administration indicated its support for the SDF continuing to guard them. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Jan. 8 that a critical part of avoiding an IS resurgence was to enable the SDF to do the job “they’ve been doing … of securing the foreign terrorist fighters”.
The Kurdish officer said he did not believe the Kurdish-led authorities would hand the jails to the new administration.
“Sharing it with the new government will not be acceptable. Protecting this prison is the responsibility of the coalition and the SDF only,” he said.
The SDF has said jihadist fighters have been seeking to exploit lax security across much of Syria: the Kurdish officer noted images of fighters with the flag used by IS on their uniforms among fighters who seized Damascus.
HTS, formerly known as the Nusra Front, has a history of conflict with IS and rejects the transnational jihad promoted by IS supporters. The new government said it thwarted an IS attack on a Shi’ite shrine in a Damascus suburb on Jan. 11.
The SDF and the new administration are at odds over how the Kurdish-led force might be integrated into Syria’s new security apparatus: the SDF says it does not intend to dissolve itself, as the new defence ministry wishes.
The interior ministry in Damascus did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
REGRET
The SDF says that it is guarding some 10,000 IS fighters.
In addition, the SDF oversees a detention camp, al-Hol, where tens of thousands of people are held. Many are family members of suspected IS fighters.
At the prison, which was attacked by IS in 2022, one detainee said he travelled to Syria from Britain in 2014 to join the group, believing “the law of God Almighty will be implemented in this land”.
“We’re six years in prison now and we don’t know anything about our situation, about our wives and about our children and about our mothers,” said the man, speaking through a small, barred window.
Detainees could be seen sitting on mattresses in shared cells accommodating a dozen or more men.
Another detainee identified as a German citizen originally from Tunisia said he had spent eight years in jail with no information about his wife and children.
“Everyone regrets it, everyone knows they committed a big mistake and people honestly want to go back to their homes and families,” he said.
The Russian detainee also expressed regret and said he hoped President Vladimir Putin would forgive him.
The prison authorities withheld their names.
The Kurdish officer said detainees typically express regret to visiting journalists, but that such comments were deceptive.
He said the prison holds detainees who “fought the battles of Baghouz, (and) didn’t surrender until the last breath”.
The Kurdish-led administration has long called on foreign states to repatriate their nationals, and in 2023 announced plans to start trying them itself. Rights groups say some countries have balked at reclaiming their citizens, citing security concerns.
The officer said the detainees still act as militants, appointing “emirs”, or commanders, planning escape attempts, and receiving religious lessons: “We’ve never noticed that they’ve abandoned their ideas.”
(Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by William Maclean)
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