"Our SDF & ISF are tightening the siege on Daesh [ISIS] terrorist attackers in the perimeter of al-Sinaa prison & managed to retake several points on the northern side eliminating several attackers,” Farhad Shami, the head of the SDF media center said on Saturday.
The media center announced the SDF and ISF regained a number of positions on the northern side of the prison, which is located in Hasaka’s neighborhood of Ghweiran, from ISIS militants who came from the neighborhood of al-Zuhour, west of the prison.
A source from the SDF told North Press Agency the surroundings of the prison were still experiencing intermittent clashes since early on Saturday.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed on Friday the US was assisting the SDF with air strikes. Rojava Information Center said air strikes were targeting a faculty of engineering center where a group of ISIS militants had barricaded themselves.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday 39 ISIS members, 23 members of Kurdish forces (including Asayish, prison guards and counter-terrorism forces) and five civilians have died in the clashes.
Some civilians were killed when ISIS members demanded they give them shelter. The SDF and ISF are trying to secure safe paths for residents to escape the clashes, North Press stated.
The SDF media center said on Friday its forces managed to capture 89 inmates who had escaped from the prison.
The prison break attempt began on Thursday when car bomb and motorbike explosions struck near the entrance of al-Sinaa prison while oil tankers exploded near a fuel depot.
Clashes then broke out between security forces and ISIS sleeper cells who came from adjacent areas.
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