An SDF counter-terrorism operation in Hasaka’s al-Arisha and Abyad villages captured Mohammed Mohammed and Hussein Musa, two ISIS militants who “posed a significant threat, particularly through motorcycle bombings in Hasaka,” the SDF said.
The operation was carried out in cooperation with the US-led coalition against ISIS, the statement added.
“Our SDF forces reaffirm their commitment to maintaining security in the North and East Syria region. We will continue our security operations against ISIS and any other groups that threaten our region’s stability,” the force said.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.”
While the group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast expanses of the Syrian desert as well as several Iraqi provinces.
Successive leaders of the group have been targeted in their hideouts in Syria.
The US-backed SDF, who control northeast Syria (Rojava), played a key role in defeating ISIS, capturing thousands of fighters and their families when the group's last stronghold fell in 2019. The SDF operates alongside hundreds of US troops as part of the international coalition against ISIS.
Earlier in September, the SDF and the US-led coalition captured an ISIS leader who had helped fellow militants escape from a Raqqa detention facility.
