They never gone. ISIS attack on Ghwaryan prison

January 27th, 2022. Nasreen leaves her home with her children Mohamed and Saad, while Kurdish special forces search for escaped prisoners and ISIS fighters inside her home. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

January 28th, 2022. Al Hasaka, Syria. Members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces arrest a suspicious Syrian man on the streets of Al Hasaka near Ghweiran prison. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

January 27th, 2022. Nasreen, a Syrian mother holds her little sons, Mohamed and Saad, outside her home, while Kurdish special forces search for escaped prisoners and ISIS fighters inside her home. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

January 27th,2022. Al Hasaka, Syria. Kurdish security forces searching for escaped prisoners and ISIS fighters near Ghweiranprison, a detention center in northeast Syria. The Kurdish-led militia battling the extremists said up to 90 ISIS fighters remained in the prison in Hasaka, despite earlier claims that it had regained full control of the complex. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEWYORK TIMES.

January 30th, 2022. Al Hasaka, Syria. Kurdish special forces check the documents of suspicious Syrian while they search for escaped prisoners and ISIS fighters near the Ghweiran prison, a detention center in northeast Syria. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

January 30th, 2022. Al Hasaka, Syria. Asma stands amidthe rubles of her house with her children after heavy fights between Kurdish special forces and ISIS fighters at the Ghweiran prison´s neighborhood.Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

January 30th, 2022. Al Hasaka, Syria. A group of Sirians observes dead bodies piled up on the streets. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

February 2, 2022, Qamishli, Syria. Kurdish women attend the memorial for the 12 Kurdish-led fighters killed fending off ISIS gunmen in a recent prison siege. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORKTIMES.

February 2, 2022 Qamishli, Syria. Thousands of mourners attending the burials of 12 Kurdish-led fighters killed fending off ISIS gunmen in a recent prison siege. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORKTIMES.

January 28th, 2022. Al Hasaka, Syria. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces warms themselves near the Ghweiran prison in Al Hasaka, Syria. The fight has become the biggest known American engagement with ISIS since the fall of its so-called caliphate three years ago. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

On January 2022, a staggering ISIS attack on Ghwaryan prison in the northeastern Syrian town of Al Hasakah revealed the enduring strength of the group and triggered the longest and deadliest battle with ISIS since its so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq was defeated nearly three years ago. The attack, officials believe, was to break free ISIS leaders, who were imprisoned there among more than 3,000 suspected militants.

After a 10-day battle, airstrikes, and Special Forces on the ground, more than 500 people died, about three-quarters of them ISIS members, or men or boys imprisoned among them

The battle spilled into the surrounding streets. Residents were terrified among a path of destruction and a river of dead fighters ‘bodies on the floor.

The world forgot this Syrian prison and Syrian Kurdish in Al Hasakah. The Islamic State did not. 3 years after the fall, the nightmare is still there and the circle of violence never ends.

The story was commissioned by THE NEW YORK TIMES