These last few days have been bloody for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Kurdish-led group has been under the fire of the Islamic State (ISIS) as a retaliation for the assassination of their leader.
In fact, on Tuesday, several members of the SDF were killed in two separate attacks by ISIS fighters in the northwest of the Raqqa governorate, according to the Lebanese website al-Modon. Local sources told Al-Modon that ISIS gunmen attacked a military vehicle belonging to SDF on the Kabash town road northwest of Raqqa. They added that six SDF members were killed and wounded in the attack. Local sources told Al-Modon that two more SDF members were killed by an explosive attack targeting a military vehicle near the village of al-Hariji , in the north of Deir-ez-Zor governorate. According to an ISIS spokesman, the attack responded to the February 2022 killing of al-Qaeda leader Sheikh Abi Ibrahim al-Qurashi and his spokesman, Abu Hamza al-Qurashi, in an international coalition’s base in the town of Atma, north of Idleb.
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More recently, on Wednesday, ISIS Sleeper cells attacked an SDF official and other civil servants during Iftar, according to the Kurdish agency North Press. A military source in the northern countryside of Deir-ez-Zor told North Press that eight gunmen driving a vehicle and two motorcycles stormed the house of Nouri al-Hamish, head of the general relations office of the Deir-ez-Zor Civil Council, killing him and 6 others. The attack was described to be the most violent since ISIS has announced a “retaliation invasion” operation.
However, the security forces of the SDF, with the help of the International Coalition, arrested a local leader of ISIS in Hassakeh, according to the Kurdish agency North Press. The special forces (HAT) of the Asayish carried out a security operation in the al-Hol town and “raided the place of the presence of a local leader of ISIS,” the Asayish said.
