VIDEO: Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces arrest 10 ISIS suspects in Deir al-Zor
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Wednesday that it had arrested 10 suspects with alleged links to ISIS in the western countryside of Deir al-Zor with support of the US-led coalition.
“The operation targeted the villages of Geneina, al-Housan, and the surrounding farms, and it was conducted upon the request of residents and dignitaries of the region due to the increased terrorist acts of the sleeper cells,” read a statement by the group’s press office that was accompanied by a video of a nighttime raid.
The Kurdish-led armed group continued, saying it “confirms its intention to uproot the roots of terrorist cells and save the region (from) their threats and terrorism.”
Although the SDF and the coalition announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria in March 2019, sleeper cell attacks persist in what appears to be a deliberate campaign to destabilize northeastern parts of the nation, primarily in cities, towns, and rural tracts of land once under the extremist group’s control.
According to the latest monthly report released by the SDF’s Military Observation Desk (MOD), ISIS had carried out 11 attacks in northeastern Syria in June, but that SDF forces had arrested 57 wanted persons, “most of whom are members of terrorist cells in separate areas.”
The Deir al-Zor Military Council and other counter-terrorism units participated in the operation announced on Wednesday. In addition to the arrests, troops also seized a cache of weapons.
On the previous day, the SDF announced that at least 8 people were killed last month at the infamous al-Hol displacement camp it runs in Hasakah province that holds thousands of female ISIS suspects and their children in northeastern Syria.
Read More: 8 killed at infamous northeast Syrian displacement camp in June: SDF
The sprawling facility has seen an alarming number of murders over the past several months, presumably at the hands of other camp residents still loyal to the group’s fundamentalist ideals.
“ISIS terrorist cells continued their activity inside al-Hol camp by carrying out more killings of residents who seek to get away from the extremist ideas of the group,” read the SDF’s latest monthly report released by the MOD.
“During June, MOD recorded the killing of eight people of Syrian and Iraqi nationalities (that were committed) by shooting them in the head, and the wounding of a Russian woman.”
Moreover, the Kurdish-led SDF also said it had recently arrested 85 men, women, and children while they were attempting to escape from the camp.
Editing by John J. Catherine