SDF, Asayish arrest 52 ISIS suspects in Syria’s Qamishli
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish) arrested on Friday 52 “terrorists and facilitators” in both Qamishli and Hasakah countryside, northeast Syria.
On Thursday, the SDF, with the participation of the Asayish, and in coordination with the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS announced the launch of the “al-Jazeera Thunderbolt” operation in the area between the two towns of Tel Hamis and Hawl in Hasakah Governorate to pursue the sleeper cells of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS).
The operation came two days after two militants of an ISIS cell attacked one of the Asayish headquarters in the city of Raqqa, killing 6 members of the Asayish.
The SDF Media Center said in a statement that on the second day of the operation their forces arrested “52 terrorists and facilitators who were sheltering in residential areas and farms.”
Those arrested confessed to “their involvement in many terrorist acts and in providing materials, resources, and weapons to the ISIS terrorist cells that one of them was about to carry out terrorist acts during the New Year’s holiday,” the SDF Media Center added.
The SDF’ Thursday statement stressed that ISIS “criminal activity” has recently emerged against residents of the region in tandem with continuous Turkish attacks against areas of northeast Syria.