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ISIS Plotted to Seize Syria's Hasakeh, Declare Formation of New Group

Kurdish security forces deploy in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh on January 22 amid ongoing fighting with the ISIS group following a prison attack. (AFP)
Kurdish security forces deploy in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh on January 22 amid ongoing fighting with the ISIS group following a prison attack. (AFP)
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ISIS Plotted to Seize Syria's Hasakeh, Declare Formation of New Group

Kurdish security forces deploy in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh on January 22 amid ongoing fighting with the ISIS group following a prison attack. (AFP)
Kurdish security forces deploy in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh on January 22 amid ongoing fighting with the ISIS group following a prison attack. (AFP)

ISIS was plotting to seize Syria's Hasakeh city and launch new operations to seize the province in wake of this year's prison break by members of the terrorist organization, revealed a member of a sleeper cell of the group.

The Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released the confessions of the detainee, Abdullah Ismail Ahmed.

Ahmed, 28, hails from the town of al-Hol in Hasakeh. He confessed to joining ISIS in 2014. He started off as a fighter, then rose up the ranks to become a administrative official and was later appointed a leader of a brigade that was tasked with carrying out terrorist attacks in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. He led military operations in Hasakeh and its countryside after ISIS' military defeat and the loss of its territories in 2019.

Ahmed revealed that the jailbreak at Gweiran Prison in January was supposed to be a top secret mission. He was ordered to carry it out by "Abdulaziz", the ISIS "wali", or ruler, of Hasakeh.

The plot was to be carried out in three phases. The first would see the release of several leading ISIS inmates, the second would see the capture of the prison with the aid of the terrorist inmates and the third would see the capture of areas in the vicinity of the facility and eventually territories leading to the al-Hol camp and the Iraqi-Syrian border.

A new organization would be declared and it would have carried out terrorist attacks to strike fear in the population and weaken the SDF.

However, the plot was thwarted by the SDF's staunch defense of the prison and the major support they received from the US-led international coalition to defeat ISIS.

Gweiran Prison held some 5,000 ISIS detainees.

The weeklong fighting left 350 ISIS members and 130 SDF fighters dead.

The SDF announced Ahmed's arrest in April.

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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.