The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday confirmed that five of its members were killed and one wounded following an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in eastern Syria.
The assault took place east of Deir Ezzor, an area where IS cells remain active despite the group’s territorial defeat in 2019. The SDF, which serves as the military arm of the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria, said the attack was carried out by “an IS-affiliated terrorist network.”
According to the SDF, its fighters managed to thwart a larger assault planned by the jihadists and have since launched operations to track down and eliminate those involved.
Although IS was stripped of its strongholds in Syria more than six years ago in an international coalition-backed campaign led by the SDF, the extremist group continues to stage deadly raids, mostly in Kurdish-controlled areas.
Thousands of people with alleged ties to IS remain detained in Kurdish-run camps and prisons across the semi-autonomous region.
The latest attack came a day before the US military announced it had killed a senior IS operative in Syria during a targeted raid, following a similar July operation that eliminated another IS leader.
