Syrian regime may attack Kurdish-led forces again in Deir al-Zor: SDF

DEIR AL-ZOR, Syria (Kurdistan 24) – Syrian Kurdish-led forces on Friday said they are still under threat by Syrian regime forces who want to take the oil fields in Deir al-Zor Province, eastern Syria.

Kurdistan 24 visited the area Syrian regime forces had attacked a few days ago and met with fighters from the US-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are a leading component.

“Syrian regime forces targeted this location here with about 13 mortar shells, but we were ready for any attack, and we repelled their offensive,” Jasim Salim, an SDF fighter, said.

“Syrian regime forces and Hezbollah militias conducted attacks on our points,” he added.

The positions of both forces, the SDF and the Syrian regime, are near each other, and SDF commanders warn the Syrian regime may strike again.

After defeating the Islamic State (IS) in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zor, the SDF controlled many strategic positions, especially the oil fields.

In response, the Syrian regime forces attacked one of those strategic positions with heavy weapons but lost hundreds of their fighters as well as several tanks which were destroyed.

The attack took place on Thursday morning in the Middle Euphrates River Valley in Deir al-Zor Governorate, eight kilometers east of the river, which serves as a de-confliction line between the US-led coalition fighting IS in eastern Syria and the Russian-led coalition supporting the Syrian regime.

One SDF member was wounded, while US personnel took no casualties.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Reporting in Kurdish by Kurdistan 24 correspondent Dilovan Chato from Deir al-Zor)