ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday said that its forces killed an Islamic State (ISIS) operative during a security operation in eastern Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province.
“Our SDF Anti-Terrorism Units (YAT) successfully eliminated one of the ISIS terrorists’ operatives during a security operation in Markada, eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor,” read a statement from the SDF.
The SDF said that the ISIS operative was involved in “carrying out assassinations targeting military and security forces,” as well as attacking civilians in the region.
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 Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control Rojava, conduct frequent operations against the group.
The Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF 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.
