BEIRUT
\nThe United Nations said on Sunday that minors were still being detained in a northeast Syria prison attacked last month by the Islamic State group, calling their conditions \u201cprecarious\u201d.
\nInternational rights groups, including Save the Children and Human Rights Watch have previously said that 700 boys had been in the Ghwayran jail before the January 20 operation.
\nAged between 12 and 18, they include many who had adult relatives inside the prison and were transferred from nearby displacement camps housing thousands of children of jihadist fighters.
\n\u201cUNICEF met with some of the children still detained in the Ghwayran detention centre,\u201d the UN\u2019s child agency said in a statement.
\n\u201cDespite some of the basic services now in place, the situation of these children is incredibly precarious,\u201d it added, without specifying how many minors were still detained.
\nFarhad Shami of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces told AFP that \u201chundreds\u201d of minors were still being held in Ghwayran, refusing to disclose an exact figure.
\n\u201cThey are being kept in a safe place,\u201d he said
\nOver 330 killed since IS attacked Syria prison
\nThe IS prison break attempt from the Ghwayran jail in Hasakeh city triggered a week of clashes inside and around the Kurdish-run facility, leaving hundreds dead, before Kurdish-led forces recaptured the jail.
\nIt was the largest jihadist operation in Syria since the group\u2019s territorial defeat in 2019.
\nUNICEF said it was working to immediately provide care for the minors and confirmed that it \u201cis ready to help support a new safe place in the northeast of Syria to take care of the most vulnerable children\u201d.
\nOn Sunday, the SDF said in a statement that UNICEF was the first UN agency granted permission to visit the jail since the attack.
\n\u201cThe delegation was provided with information on the status of the Deash-linked teenagers,\u201d the SDF added, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
\nVideo footage of the visit posted on social media networks showed around a dozen boys, many covered in blankets, in a prison cell.
\nKurdish authorities have repeatedly blamed the international community for failing to support efforts to rehabilitate and repatriate jihadist children. Ghwayran housed at least 3,500 IS suspects before last month\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIRUT The United Nations said on Sunday that minors were still being detained in a northeast Syria prison attacked last month by the Islamic State group, calling their conditions \u201cprecarious\u201d. International rights groups, including Save the Children and Human Rights Watch have previously said that 700 boys had been in the Ghwayran jail before the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3815,3816,1428,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-242949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-is","9":"tag-minors","10":"tag-syria","11":"tag-un"},"yoast_head":"\n