BEIRUT: US-backed Kurdish-led fighters searched Friday near a Syrian prison for Daesh group militants as dozens of armed extremists holed up in a small part of the jail, a Kurdish official said.
About a half-dozen Daesh fighters surrendered Friday morning, among scores of militants hiding in a basement in the northern section of the prison, according to Siamand Ali, a spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
He would not confirm or deny a report by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, that SDF fighters discovered the bodies of 18 of their comrades inside Gweiran prison, also known as Al-Sinaa prison, in northeast Syria on Friday.
Daesh group’s Jan. 20 attack on the prison was the biggest military operation by the extremist group since the fall of their self-declared caliphate in 2019. It came as the militants staged deadly attacks in both Syria and Iraq that stoked fears that Daesh may be staging a comeback.
The weeklong assault on one of the largest detention facilities in Syria has turned the city of Hassakeh into a conflict zone. The Kurdish-led administration declared a curfew and sealed off the city, barring movement in and out.
Thousands of people in Hassakeh were displaced in recent days because of the fighting.
The SDF claimed Wednesday it had regained full control of the prison — a week after scores of militants overran the facility. The attackers allowed some to escape but also took hostages, including child detainees, and clashed with SDF fighters in violence that killed dozens.
The SDF had said that between 60 and 90 militants were hiding out in the northern section of the prison.
Ali said the militants are in the basement of a two-story building and that those who remain inside are refusing to surrender. “Our units are surrounding the building and are trying to convince them to surrender,” he said.
The Observatory said SDF fighters are betting that more time will force Daesh militants to surrender as their food dwindles.
The Hawar News Agency, ANHA, an online Kurdish news service, reported that several automatic rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade and hand grenades were confiscated from the Daesh gunmen who surrendered Friday. It added that SDF fighters are conducting search operations in the prison as well as several Hassakeh neighborhoods in search for Daesh sleeper cells.
The SDF said about 3,000 inmates have surrendered since its operation to retake the prison’s northern wing began three days ago.
At least 300 foreign child detainees are believed to be held in the Gweiran facility. Thousands more, mostly under the age of 12, are held with their mothers in locked camps in other parts of northeastern Syria on suspicion of being families of Daesh members. Most countries have refused to repatriate them, with only 25 out of 60 countries taking back their children, some without their mothers.
The Britain-based Observatory put the death toll from the struggle at over 260, including over 180 militants and more than 73 fighters from the Kurdish-led force. At least seven civilians were killed in the fighting, the Observatory said.
The SDF said preliminary information put the force’s death toll at 35.
Syrian fighters search for Daesh sleeper cells near prison
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Syrian fighters search for Daesh sleeper cells near prison
- About a half-dozen Daesh fighters surrendered Friday morning, among scores of militants hiding in a basement in the northern section of the prison
- Daesh group's Jan. 20 attack on the prison was the biggest military operation by the extremist group since the fall of their self-declared caliphate in 2019
UAE braced for severe weather, task force on high alert
- UAE’s disaster management authority warns residents to expect rain, storms over next two days
- All private schools in UAE to switch to remote learning as precaution on Thursday and Friday
DUBAI: Challenging weather is again expected in the UAE, with parts of the country’s east coast set to experience strong winds.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said gusts of up to 40 kph were likely to impact the area on Thursday.
While the NCM forecasts less severe conditions than those in April, it has warned residents to expect rain and storms over the next two days. There is a possibility of hail in the eastern regions, possibly extending to some internal and western areas.
Clouds are expected to decrease on Friday and Saturday, with possible light to medium rain which may be heavier in some southern and eastern regions.
Government agencies are coordinating with the Joint Weather and Tropical Assessment Team to monitor developments, said a statement from the NCM.
The teams will assess the potential impact of weather conditions and implement proactive measures where necessary.
Dubai’s government announced all private schools in the UAE would switch to remote learning on Thursday and Friday as a precaution.
Authorities have urged the public to exercise caution, adhere to safety standards and guidelines, refrain from circulating rumors, and rely on official sources for information.
The UAE is still recovering from last month’s storms which caused widespread flooding, submerging streets and disrupting flights at Dubai International Airport.
Hamas official insists Gaza ceasefire must be permanent
- Suhail Al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official said the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period“
- He stressed the aim was “to reach an end to this war“
GAZA, Palestinian Territories: Hamas will respond to an Israeli truce proposal for Gaza “within a very short period,” an official with the Palestinian militant group said Wednesday, stressing though that any ceasefire needs to be permanent.
Hamas is considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
Suhail Al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official, told AFP the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period,” although he would not say precisely when that was expected to happen.
Speaking to AFP by phone from an undisclosed location, he said it was premature to say whether the Hamas envoys, who have returned from talks in Cairo to their base in Qatar, felt any progress was made.
He stressed the aim was “to reach an end to this war.”
But that would seem to be at odds with Israel’s determination to push ahead with its vast ground offensive in southern Gaza.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Qatari mediators expected a response from Hamas in one or two days.
The source said Israel’s proposal contained “real concessions” including a period of “sustainable calm” following an initial pause in fighting and the exchange of hostages of and prisoners.
The source said Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip remained a likely point of contention.
An Israeli official told AFP the government “will wait for answers until Wednesday night,” and then “make a decision” whether to send envoys to Cairo to nail down a deal.
Jordan says Israeli settlers attacked Jordanian aid convoys on way to Gaza - state news agency
DUBAI: Jordan said some Israeli settlers attacked on Wednesday two of its aid convoys that were on the way to Gaza, the Petra state news agency reported.
“Jordan strongly condemns extremist Israeli settlers’ attack on two Jordanian aid convoys”, it said.
US surgeon in Gaza: nothing prepared me for scale of injuries
- Around 70 percent of the surgeries he performed were on injuries caused by shrapnel
- Team would deal with 40-60 patients a day
CAIRO: A US vascular surgeon who left Gaza after a stint as a volunteer said on Wednesday nothing had prepared him for the scale of injuries he had faced there.
Dozens of patients a day. Most of them young. Most facing complicated injuries caused by shrapnel. Most ending up with amputations.
“Vascular surgery is really a disease for older patients and I would say I had never operated on anybody less than 16, and that was the majority of patients that we did this time around,” Shariq Sayeed, from Atlanta, Georgia, told Reuters in Cairo.
“Most were patients 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 years of age. Mostly shrapnel wounds, and that was something I have never dealt with, that was something new.”
In his stint at the European Hospital in Gaza, Sayeed said his team would deal with 40-60 patients a day. The vast majority were amputation cases.
“And unfortunately there is a very high incidence of infection as well so once you have an amputation that doesn’t heal, you end of getting a higher amputation,” he said.
Around 70 percent of the surgeries he performed were on injuries caused by shrapnel, the rest mostly from blast injuries and collapsing buildings.
Ismail Mehr, an anaesthesiologist from New York State, who led the Gaza mission, said the volunteer medics were “speechless at what we saw” when they arrived this month in southern Gaza.
Mehr is chairman of IMANA Medical Relief, a program that focuses on disaster medical relief and health care support and has provided treatment to over 2.5 million patients in 34 countries and counting.
He has been to Gaza several times in the past, but could not imagine what he saw this time: “Truly everywhere I saw was destruction in Khan Younis, not a single building standing.”
Out of 36 hospitals that used to serve more than 2 million residents, just 10 were somewhat functional by early April, according to the World Health Organization.
Health facilities lacked medical supplies, equipment, staff, and power supplies, Mehr said. His biggest fear now is an expected Israeli assault into the southern city of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought shelter.
“I hope and I pray that Rafah is not attacked,” he said. “The health system will not be able to take care of that. It will be a complete catastrophe.”
UAE braced for severe weather, task force on high alert
DUBAI: Challenging weather is again expected in the UAE, with parts of the country’s east coast set to experience strong winds.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said gusts of up to 40 kph were likely to impact the area on Thursday.
While the NCM forecasts less severe conditions than those in April, it has warned residents to expect rain and storms over the next two days. There is a possibility of hail in the eastern regions, possibly extending to some internal and western areas.
Clouds are expected to decrease on Friday and Saturday, with possible light to medium rain which may be heavier in some southern and eastern regions.
Government agencies are coordinating with the Joint Weather and Tropical Assessment Team to monitor developments, said a statement from the NCM.
The teams will assess the potential impact of weather conditions and implement proactive measures where necessary.
Dubai’s government announced all private schools in the UAE would switch to remote learning on Thursday and Friday as a precaution.
Authorities have urged the public to exercise caution, adhere to safety standards and guidelines, refrain from circulating rumors, and rely on official sources for information.
The UAE is still recovering from last month’s storms which caused widespread flooding, submerging streets and disrupting flights at Dubai International Airport.
