Deir al-Zor Military Council-aligned media denies reports 30 ISIS prisoners escaped prison

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The semi-official page of the Deir al-Zor media center aligned with the Deir al-Zor Military Council (DMC) on Wednesday denied reports that 30 Islamic State members escaped prison in Shaddadi in the Deir al-Zor governorate.

“Some hostile pages have reported that ISIS prisoners escaped from prison in the Shadadi region,” the center said referring to a news report published on the Euphrates Post.

“We, as the center of Deir al-Zor media, are denying this news and we confirm that our forces are offering the full protection for prisons in which ISIS members are being incarcerated,” it added.

In February 2018, a small number of Islamic State prisoners escaped from a detention center under the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), CNN reported.

The SDF continues to hold thousands of prisoners, including at least 1,000 foreigners from 50 countries.

Local officials have called on nations to take back their imprisoned foreign fighters, warning the prisoners could flee.

“Our region is unstable; any chaos may enable ISIS fighters to flee,” Abdulkarim Omer, the co-head of foreign relations for the local administration in northeast Syria, warned last year.

“Some of those fighters are dangerous and may pose serious threats [to] Europe and the international community.”

Western countries have largely refused to take back their detained citizens, fearing they could pose a security risk or would be released after short sentences.

As a result, the local administration has called for the establishment of an international court to try the Islamic State fighters in Syria.

“We call on the international community to establish a special international tribunal in northeast Syria to prosecute terrorists,” the administration said last week.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany