As the clamor grows in the United States for inmates to be released from overcrowded prisons due to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of miles away in Syria, prisoners took matters into their own hands on Sunday and staged a mutiny.
But this is no ordinary lockup, and these are no ordinary detainees. The school-turned-jailhouse in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah holds some 5,000 ISIS militants. Most were captured last spring during the Battle of Baghuz, where the Islamic State group made its last stand.
The prison riot and attempted jailbreak took place on the night of Sunday, March 29, when inmates managed to remove cell doors and punch holes through internal cell walls, taking control of part of the prison facility after overwhelming their Kurdish guards. Aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition assisted in surveillance overnight and into Monday. But although some detainees managed to escape, they were later picked up by the police, according to local reports.
