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The US Central Command (CENTCOM) have warned of the continued threat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria in a statement released on Friday for the one-year anniversary of the ISIS attack on a detention facility in Hasakah, northeast Syria.
“Today, the one-year anniversary of the ISIS attack on the Ghwayran detention facility in Hasakah, Syria, we are reminded of the lingering danger of the approximately 10,000 ISIS fighters in the more than two dozen detention facilities throughout Syria,” CENTCOM spokesman Colonel Joe Buccino said.
“These fighters, who are housed in professional conditions in these facilities, represent an ISIS army in detention,” he continued.
On 20 January 2022, the Ghwayran detention centre, which housed around 5,000 detainees affiliated with ISIS, was stormed by groups of ISIS fighters, who were aiming to set the detainees free.
The attack resulted in a 10-day battle between ISIS members and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with support from US forces. Over 425 ISIS-affiliated fighters were killed in the fighting, along with 121 detention facility staff and members of the SDF forces.
CENTCOM warned that despite the SDF and US forces’ ongoing efforts against ISIS in the region, “the group’s vile ideology threatens to radicalize a new generation of fighters and fuel the group’s resurgence.”
The statement ended with CENTCOM reaffirming their commitment “to the enduring defeat of ISIS alongside our partners.”
