US-backed force captures IS militants in southern Syria

The US-backed Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT) rebel group recently detained five Islamic State militants in the US-held 55-kilometer deconfliction zone around al-Tanf in southern Syria.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The US-backed Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT) rebel group recently detained five Islamic State (IS) militants in the US-held 55-kilometer deconfliction zone around al-Tanf in southern Syria.

“Upon detention and investigation, five [IS] terrorists were identified. The additional seven individuals are suspected of assisting [IS] by smuggling the terrorists through the deconfliction zone,” the US-led Coalition said in a statement on Monday.

In July, the MaT group arrested 25 IS militants, the statement revealed, adding the forces “conduct daily counter-IS operations in order to provide security and stability for the population of the deconfliction zone.”

“The Coalition and our partners will continue to deliberately interdict and disrupt these forces to ensure the lasting defeat of [IS] in our designated operational areas in Syria,” Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, Commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, stated.

Muhanned al-Tallaa, Commander of the MaT, said operations against IS militants “who attempt to enter the 55-kilometer area near al-Tanf” will continue “to ensure [IS’] lasting defeat.”

“In the last campaign to clear the 55-kilometer zone from IS elements, there were already smugglers—they are mostly Bedouins. These people are smuggling IS militants from inside to outside of the 55-kilometer zone, which is creating sleeper cells and logistics groups related to IS,” Mozahem al-Saloum, former MaT spokesperson, previously known as the New Syrian Army, told Kurdistan 24.

Most of the IS-supporters are smuggled outside of the zone “from those already living in Rukban, but there is intelligence information they also bring them inside the zone,” he added.

The MaT, a 300-member Syrian tribal force supported by the US-led Coalition, continues to patrol a 55-kilometer “de-confliction zone” surrounding a US garrison.

According to a report released last week by the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General, IS is attempting to enter the zone to smuggle weapons and drugs covertly.

Moreover, the extremist group is exploiting gaps between the edge of the zone and Syrian regime forces to move weapons and equipment to eastern Syria.

“The DoD also reported that the MaT had destroyed a large narcotics cache worth about $1.4 million that was seized during counter-IS operations within the zone,” the report said.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany