100 youngsters gone missing after an IS raid

The fate of 100 youngsters jailed in a Syrian prison remains unclear more than two months after militants raided the institution, according to United Nations experts on Friday.

International human rights organisations, including Save the Children and Human Rights Watch, have stated that 700 boys were held in the Kurdish-run jail in northern Hassakeh province before it was attacked by the Islamic State group.

“We are deeply concerned that the fate and whereabouts of at least 100 of those youngsters have remained unknown since the January 2022 attack, raising major concerns,” the UN human rights experts said in a statement.

“Some of these situations may constitute forcible disappearance,” they noted.

The captives, aged 12 to 18, included individuals who had adult relatives inside Ghwayran jail and were relocated from neighbouring displacement camps holding thousands of jihadist combatants’ children.

The independent experts urged the de facto authorities to provide all humanitarian actors complete and unrestricted access to the children still detained in Ghwayran.

“Any harm done to these children must be discovered, and those responsible must be held accountable to prevent impunity,” stressed UN experts.

The IS prison break attempt from Ghwayran sparked a week of fighting within and outside the Kurdish-run institution, killing hundreds before Kurdish-led troops reclaimed the complex.

“Many of the youths incarcerated in the jails were critically injured during the jailbreak, and their wounds are not receiving vital medical attention,” according to UN specialists.

Although Kurdish officials claim that no one escaped, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, located in Britain, claims that some militants left.