ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Saturday that they have captured and killed over 240 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in northeast Syria (Rojava) since January, amid an increase of jihadist attacks in SDF and regime-held areas.
“During the first half of 2024, our SDF forces have conducted 28 successful anti-ISIS operations supported by the international coalition in different areas of NE Syria Region,” read a statement from the SDF.
“During these operations, 233 terrorists, suspects, & collaborators were captured … and 10 terrorists were eliminated,” the statement added.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land amid a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate”.
Though the jihadists no longer control any territory, they continue to pose a security risk by carrying out kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings, and the SDF conducts frequent operations against the group.
The Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF, who control Rojava, fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and took the group’s last stronghold in Syria in 2019.
In late March, the SDF warned that ISIS still poses a threat to the world and the region as its defeat “requires dismantling its ideological breeding ground.”
“ISIS is still trying to recruit new terrorist elements, attempting to radicalize them into its ranks,” said the SDF, calling on the international community to “collaborate effectively” with its forces.
