As the truck bombing lights up the night sky, scores of militants swarm the Ghwaryan prison, which reportedly houses more than 3,000 Islamic State suspects and about 700 adolescent boys, who in many cases had been taken to the caliphate as youngsters and then became separated from their parents either during its final days or after being placed in displacement camps with their mothers. Small-arms fire crackles outside the complex, also known as Sina’a prison. Inside, prisoners begin to riot, according to officials from the SDF and U.S.-led coalition, believing their comrades are staging a prison break. They overpower guards, killing several, and take kitchen staff hostage. As SDF troops counter the attack, U.S.-led coalition aircraft carry out initial airstrikes in support.

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