Syrian government disregards ISIS danger, accuses SDF moving it to desert
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syrian government media outlets continue to disregard the danger of the Islamic State (ISIS) cells in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakah accusing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to cooperate with ISIS.
Several ISIS members who were detained in al-Sina’a prison in Hasakah escaped after the attacks on the prison and fled to the Syrian desert, a statement by the SDF said.
Al-Watan, a pro-Syrian government newspaper, published a report, without reliable sources, accusing the SDF of cooperating with ISIS and transferring its members from the Hasakah-based prison to the Syrian desert so that ISIS engages in a fighting with the Syrian government forces there.
“The speculations, so far, indicate that ISIS leaders fled towards the Syrian desert in cooperation with SDF”, the newspaper said.
“Repercussions of ISIS attack on al-Sina’a prison and fate of those on the loose still catches spectacular speculations and political views, specially that news of terrorist ISIS members fleeing to the Syrian desert has circulated, a bargain aiming, in the first place, to drag the Syrian government forces into clashes with ISIS, clashes that are already ongoing for years,” the newspaper added.
Two days after the prison break, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that fighting ISIS by the SDF, supported by the Global Coalition and its obligations to protect the residents in the region ‘amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity’.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry never mentioned the hazard of ISIS members on the civilians in Hasakah and its countryside. Instead, it blamed the SDF and the Global Coalition and said they were behind the displacement of the people.
Before the prison break, al-Sina’a prison used to hold many ISIS members captured by the SDF after their defeat in Syria’s eastern city of Deir ez-Zor.
The SDF continues combing operations in the neighborhoods surrounding the prison searching for ISIS members who managed to flee the prison.