US President Joe Biden’s administration praised the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their role in taking control of the Hasakah prison in northeastern Syria.
This comes following ISIS attacks that promoted the US to launch airstrikes to support the SDF during the battles that left over 490 dead.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan commended on Sunday the SDF, who, along with Coalition forces, completed operations to re-take full control of the Hasakah prison.
“Thanks to the bravery and determination of the SDF, many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice, ISIS failed in its efforts to conduct a large-scale prison break to reconstitute its ranks,” he said in a statement.
He added that the barbarity of ISIS’s actions during this attack reaffirms why this group must be denied the ability to regenerate and why nations must work together to address the thousands of ISIS detainees in inadequate detention facilities.
“ISIS remains a global threat that requires a global solution,” he said, affirming that the US remains committed to working with its partners in Iraq and northeast Syria, and the Defeat-ISIS Coalition, to counter the ISIS threat to our homelands.
State Secretary spokesperson Ned Price said ISIS’ desperate and violent tactics are a grave reminder to the world that the terrorist group remains a threat that can and must be defeated.
He stressed that the battle to regain control of the Hasakah prison is a reminder that the enduring defeat of ISIS requires the support of the international community and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
ISIS militants on January 20 launched their biggest assault in years, attacking the Ghwayran prison in the Kurdish-controlled northeast Syrian city of Hasakah to free fellow extremists.
Member of the SDF General Command Nowruz Ahmed told a news conference on Monday that the death toll jumped to 495 people since the onset of the attack -- including 374 militants, 117 Kurdish-led fighters, including 77 prison guards, and four civilians.
She said ISIS inmates were transferred to safer fortified prisons and their children and grandchildren remain safe.
Nowruz announced the end of the mopping-up campaign inside the prison after ending the last pockets in which ISIS terrorists were present.
