Nearly 100 prisoners escape ISIS jail in northern Syria, monitor says

The estimated 95 prisoners who escaped an Islamic State-run prison in al-Bab, about 20 miles from the Turkish border, include 30 Kurdish fighters, Syrian civilians, and Islamic fighters opposed to ISIS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. ISIS has put al-Bab on high alert, calling for residents to recapture the jail-breakers, the Observatory said, citing their sources in the town.

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Al-Bab was also the scene of a fight over the weekend between mostly European ISIS fighters trying to escape to Turkey and Syrian ISIS fighters trying to stop them, the Observatory said, adding that nine ISIS fighters died. Conflicts between foreign and local ISIS militants is taking its toll on the self-proclaimed caliphate, according to residents of ISIS-occupied areas.

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.