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Kurdish residents of Hassaka
Photo: AHMED MARDNLI/EPA
According to UNICEF, almost 850 children are in immediate danger in the Syrian city of Al-Hassaka due to the violent attacks by the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) on a prison. "The longer the fighting goes on, the greater the risk for children of being injured or forcibly recruited," said United Nations Children's Fund Syria representative Bo Viktor Nylund. "We demand the release of the children from prison." Some of them are only twelve years old.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 150 people were killed in the attack on the prison, including 102 jihadists and seven civilians.
The troops led by Kurds tried there on Sunday to regain full control of the prison.
They are supported by US troops with airstrikes.
According to the observatory, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish militias now control almost half of the prison, while the jihadists have entrenched themselves in the northern part.
10,000 children and their mothers in detention camps
The raid on the prison, which began on Thursday evening, was one of the heaviest IS attacks in Syria in years.
The aim was to free imprisoned supporters.
The violence could also spread to other prisons and camps, the UNICEF official warned.
Nearly 10,000 children and their mothers are in detention camps in north-eastern Syria.
They are all particularly vulnerable.
Al-Hassaka is located in the north-east of the civil war country, which is controlled by Syrian Kurds.
According to Kurdish media, around 5,000 IS supporters were most recently in the prison there.
The attack on the prison shows that the fight against IS is not yet won.
In the summer of 2014, the jihadists took over large areas in northern and western Iraq and proclaimed a so-called caliphate there.
Large parts of neighboring Syria also belonged to the dominion.
as/dpa
