US-backed Kurdish forces tightened the noose around armed militants hunkering down inside a Syrian prison Tuesday, with both sides facing a bloodbath or talks to end the five-day-old standoff. Around 100 Islamic State group fighters attacked Ghwayran prison in the northeastern city of Hasakeh on January 20, in their biggest military operation since their self-proclaimed “caliphate” was defeated in 2019. The ensuing clashes with the Kurdish forces running northeastern Syria have left more than 160 people dead, including 45 in Kurdish ranks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. …