At Least 120 Killed in Battle Between Syrian Kurds and ISIS After Prison Attack

Clashes are still ongoing, the US providing Kurdish forces with air support

At least 120 people have been killed in clashes between ISIS and the US-backed Kurdish SDF in northeast Syria, Al Jazeera reported Sunday.

The clashes are still ongoing and were touched off Thursday night by an ISIS attack on a prison in Hasakeh, Syria. The SDF initially said they thwarted the prison break but later said some inmates took over parts of the prison.

On Saturday, with US support, the SDF brought more fighters into Hasakeh to retake parts of the prison. Parts of Hasakeh are controlled by the Syrian government, and the governor of Hasakeh said about 4,000 civilians fled to those areas as the fighting escalated.

The SDF said Sunday that it recaptured about 104 prisoners, but it’s not clear how many escaped. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 77 ISIS fighters, 39 Kurdish fighters, and seven civilians have been killed in the clashes.

The US has been giving the SDF air support in its fight against ISIS in Hasakeh. The clashes come amid intense scrutiny over the enormous number of civilian casualties during the US air war against ISIS in Iraq in Syria.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.