By Alice Speri The Intercept

Tens of thousands of people from dozens of countries have been detained in northeast Syria since the fall of the Islamic State three years ago.

When dozens of Islamic State fighters attacked a prison in northeast Syria last month, setting off a 10-day battle that drew in U.S. forces and left hundreds of people dead, they reminded the world that, three years after U.S. officials declared victory over the group, it is in fact still active — and eager for a comeback.

The attack also confirmed unheeded warnings by human rights and humanitarian groups operating in the region, as well as by the U.S.-allied, Kurdish-led autonomous authority in charge of governing former ISIS territory: that the indefinite detention in both prisons and makeshift camps of tens of thousands of people believed to have been affiliated with the Islamic State was a dangerous tinderbox.

By the time the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed wing of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, regained control of al-Sina’a prison, more than 500 people were dead, including more than 100 members of the SDF and prison staff. The fighting had spilled into nearby neighborhoods, sending thousands of residents fleeing and causing at least seven civilian casualties. Dozens of bodies had been dumped from a front-end loader onto the street, and then shoveled into a gravel truck and driven off, according to a report by journalists on the ground. Some of the suspected militants who had been held at the prison remained unaccounted for, with estimates ranging from 30 to more than 300.

READ MORE