Damascus: About 200 terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State escaped in a recent attack on a prison controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Syrian city of Al-Hasakah, the New York Times reported, citing a US official.
On January 20, IS attacked the facility in order to free imprisoned fighters. Many terrorists managed to escape the building while others barricaded themselves inside with hostages.
On Wednesday, the SDF said that the prison was returned under control, and about 1,000 remaining terrorists surrendered.
According to the latest data, 175 terrorists were eliminated and 27 SDF soldiers were killed.
The US official told the New York Times that the attack was possibly aimed at releasing top and middle-level terrorists, as well as fighters with bomb production skills.
According to the media, the SDF did not comment on the information regarding the number of escaped terrorists, saying that the consequences of the attack are still being assessed.
On Thursday, the Syrian Military Prosecutor's office said that the events in Al-Hasakah represented the implementation of a project on maintaining Washington's control over northeastern Syria.
According to the local authorities, the international coalition led by the United States allowed IS terrorists to carry out the attack on the prison in order to show that the terrorist threat still exists in the region and thereby justify Washington's illegal presence in the country.
The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011 with Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces fighting different insurgent groups. In late 2017, IS was declared defeated in Syria and Iraq, but counterterrorism operations are still ongoing.
Washington backs the Kurdish armed formations located in the country despite protests from the Syrian government. The US military currently controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo and Deir Ez-Zor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located.
Damascus does not recognize the so-called autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria and calls the presence of the US military on its territory an occupation and state piracy with the aim of outright theft of oil. (UNI)