U.S.-backed forces in northeastern Syria are warning the latest attempt by the Islamic State terror group to break thousands of its followers out of prison was part of a bigger plot designed to take and hold territory – a capability most Western counterterrorism officials have assessed to be beyond the group’s current reach.
Officials with the Syrian Democratic Forces said they based their conclusion on interrogations with captured Islamic State fighters and prisoners, and on documents recovered after the al-Sina’a prison in Hasaka and surrounding areas were secured.