ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria (Rojava) said they clashed with Islamic State (ISIS) in Deir ez-Zor province on Thursday.
“Our forces clashed with an ISIS terrorist cell in the town of al-Tayanah east of Deir ez-Zor. ISIS terrorist cells continue to make strenuous efforts to destabilize the security and stability of north and east Syria, in a persistent attempt to exploit the prevailing state of chaos in Syria,” read a statement from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The ISIS jihadists targeted an SDF position and one support vehicle with an RPG, causing only material damage, according to the statement.
Deir ez-Zor province is located in eastern Syria and borders Iraq.
The SDF, the de facto army of Rojava, fought the lion’s share of the battle to drive ISIS out of Syria and arrested thousands of the group’s fighters. The Kurdish-led force holds around 10,000 ISIS prisoners and more than 40,000 people with ISIS ties, mostly wives and children of jihadists, at al-Hol camp.
After the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the United States-led coalition against ISIS and the SDF have sought to keep ISIS from regaining their footing in the new security landscape.
ISIS swept through large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014. Despite their territorial defeat in 2019, the group continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions.
