Situation, Facts and Events
01.01.2025

Islamic State planning mass jailbreak, warn Iraqi security officials

The Islamic State is planning a mass prison break to free thousands of its fighters held in Syria, Iraqi officials say.

There are fears the terrorist group is trying to take advantage of the power vacuum left by the fall of the Assad regime to regroup as Israeli bombs destroy Syria's last military targets.

Iraq's national security chief Abdul Karim Abd Fadhil said on Sunday that the Islamic State (IS) was planning to attack prisons that have held thousands of its fighters for years.

His warning about prison security followed concerns raised by US Senator Lindsey Graham, who said an IS prison break would be a "nightmare" for both America and Europe.

At least 40,000 people linked to ISIS remain in detention camps run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US-backed Kurdish militia that controls much of northeast Syria.
 
Around 9,000 well-trained and battle-hardened ISIS fighters are held in several prisons, the largest of which are al-Hasakah and al-Shaddadi. Hundreds were killed in a previous prison break attempt at al-Hasakah in 2022.

The rest of those detained are women and children from Iraq and Syria, accused of supporting ISIS or being family members of militants. About 8,000 are foreigners, including former British citizens.

However, with most of its forces in prisons, analysts believe the group's numbers remain low, between 1,000 and 5,000.

Since rebel forces took power just over a week ago, ending Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule, ISIS has carried out six attacks in the Syrian desert, killing 70 people. Most of them were former regime forces who had fled.
 
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that ISIS would likely try to exploit instability once power in Damascus changed hands. Outgoing US President Joe Biden said Washington was "very aware" of the threat of an ISIS resurgence.

Since then, US air forces has carried out dozens of precision strikes on ISIS camps, fighters and leaders.

Spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Council, the SDF's political wing, Bassam Ishak, told The Telegraph that ISIS's resurgence had already begun.


Source: yahoo.com