Riots started by ISIS prisoners in Hesekê last night continue. Mercenaries want to meet with Coalition officials and the Red Cross.

Coalition officials have not responded to this request so far. Half of the prison is in control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Erkexwe Parastin forces, while half remains in the hands of the mercenaries.

What happened in Hesekê prison, where last night some 5,000 ISIS prisoners attempted to escape, leads to the question "was the rebellion planned in advance?"

ISIS members began their revolt last night at 8 pm local time in the prison in which mercenaries caught mostly in Baghouz (Baxoz) are held.

The second phase of the revolt, which began with an attempt to take security officers hostages, saw ISIS mercenaries trying to tear down the walls by removing doors and iron bars.

As soon as the revolt began, SDF forces increased security measures in and around the prison and blocked the roads to the prison in order to prevent possible attacks from outside.

Airplanes belonging to the International Coalition forces also carried out low flights over the prison.

ANF has monitored the situation closely, waiting near the prison where the rebellion took place until the morning hours.

According to the information we received from prison officials, control of most of the prison was taken over by mercenaries.

What happened

ISIS members, who have been in prison for 1 to 1.5 years, are waiting to be tried. Failure to take action regarding their trial left ISIS mercenaries into a limbo, and this uncertainty leads them to organised riots and trying to escape.

The mercenaries wrote slogans on the blankets in the wards asking for 'humanitarian aid' directed to the International Coalition and organizations such as the Red Cross.

Then, ISIS mercenaries started shouting slogans and breaking the cameras in the wards.

The mercenaries that managed to break the ward gates and came out of the wards and into the corridors. Some mercenaries tried to break the doors in other wards while others tried to break the iron bars in the corridors.

The security forces in some of the areas lost control of the situation as anger and violence grew.

Timeline of events

- At around 8 pm local time ISIS mercenaries began protesting in prison

- By 10 pm ISIS prisoners had taken control of almost half of the prison

- At 11.50 pm, prison officials issued the first communication regarding the riots

- At around 00:30 am some ISIS prisoners set a part of the prison on fire

- Between 2 and 3 am some ISIS prisoners managed to escape and began shouting to other prisoners: "Let's act quickly, we can get out of here!"

Why the situation cannot be taken under control?

ISIS mercenaries who managed to escape from prison benefited from the darkness of the night to hide whils secuerity guards took position to defend themselves from possible attacks from outside the prison. The security personnel waited for the early hours of the morning to get into action as it was essential to be able to see. However, the situation became more critical and security forces are having difficulties in taking the situation under control. In fact, there is a risk that things get out of control even further.