Syria: Kurdish forces announce the arrest of a hundred jihadists
At the end of December, the Syrian Democratic Forces launched an operation to "hunt down the cells" of the IS (illustration).
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These arrests, announced this Friday, January 6, took place during a week-long operation against cells of the Islamic State organization, after a deadly attack in northern Syria.
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Ten days after
the deadly attack
on the headquarters of Kurdish forces in Raqqa and the ensuing anti-jihadist operation, it is time to take stock.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced in a statement on Friday that they had searched 55 villages and farms as well as “
vast portions of the Syrian-Iraqi border
”.
The operation allowed "
the arrest of 154 wanted terrorists and criminals
", including 102 members of the Islamic State group, and to thwart the attacks that the jihadist organization planned to launch against the cities of Qamichli and Hassaké during the holidays of year-end, the statement also said.
The SDF indicated that the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States had taken part in the operation, which the coalition did not confirm.
On December 26, six members of the Kurdish security forces and a jihadist were killed in a failed assault claimed by IS against the headquarters of Kurdish forces in Raqqa, which targeted a prison where jihadists are detained.
The Syrian Democratic Forces subsequently declared a state of alert in areas under their control in northern Syria and
launched an operation
to "
hunt down the cells
" of IS.
Supported by this coalition, the Kurdish-dominated SDF spearheaded the fight against IS, which was defeated in successive offensives, in 2017 in Iraq and in 2019 in neighboring Syria.
But despite the loss of its strongholds in these two countries, the jihadist organization continues to claim attacks there.
On December 30, twelve employees of an oil field in an area under the control of the Syrian regime were killed in an attack attributed to IS.
A Kurdish fighter died the same day in an ambush also attributed to the jihadist group.
Syria is fragmented by the war started in 2011. Bashar al-Assad's regime has taken over most of the territory, but Syrian Kurdish forces control large areas of the north and northeast of the country.
(
With
AFP)
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Syria
IS
Terrorism