ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday announced that it captured seven villages previously held by Syrian regime forces in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor province, days after Russian forces reportedly withdrew from the area.
The SDF said in a statement by its military council in Deir ez-Zor that its forces became “responsible for safeguarding” the villages of Salhiya, Tabia, Hatla, Khesham, Marrat, Mazloum, and Husseiniya in the eastern countryside of the province, saying that the move was in light of recent situation in western Syria, and “serious threat related to the imminent movement” of Islamic State (ISIS) cells to control land.
“The deployment of our forces to these villages is in response to the urgent pleas and appeals of the local populace, following the increasing potential risks that ISIS will exploit the events in the west of the country,” the statement added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that the SDF launched an attack on the villages on Tuesday, days after Russian forces left their bases in eastern Deir ez-Zor, which was under the control of Syrian regime and pro-Iran proxies.
In response to rising security threats, the #SDF have deployed forces to safeguard the villages in Deir Ezzor. They continue to protect local communities from #ISIS threat as our partner of choice in the region in support of #DefeatISIS. https://t.co/iNCmAmACA2
— Combined Special Ops Joint Task Force-Levant (@SOJTF_LEVANT) December 3, 2024
Syrian state media SANA reported on Tuesday that the army "repelled" an attack carried out by the SDF on villages in the Jazeera area in Deir ez-Zor's northern countryside.
This comes amid an escalation of violence in the west of the country, as a coalition of Syrian rebel groups spearheaded by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) launched a major offensive against the Syrian army over the past week. They took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and advanced their offensive into Hama province.
After the recent escalations in Aleppo, the Syrian regime has focused its efforts on recapturing Aleppo, which they lost to the rebels for the first time since the start of the Syrian civil war over a decade ago.
Updated at 11:00 am
