It was ISIS’s biggest operation since U.S.-backed forces declared defeat over the terror group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” in March 2019: A week ago, ISIS militants managed to break into a prison holding almost 3,500 inmates in northern Syria — most of them well-trained ISIS fighters who were locked up as the group lost ground several years ago.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of mostly Kurdish militias backed by the U.S. during Syria’s vicious civil war, announced on Wednesday that it had finally managed to retake control of the prison, with all inmates and attackers either dead or in custody, after six days of fighting.