Civilian killed by remnant of Islamic State in Hassakeh, northeast Syria

A remnant of ISIS found in their last stronghold in Baghouz village in Deor Ezzor province in eastern Syria near border with Iraq. (Photo: Delil Souleiman/Getty Image)

HASSAKEH, Syria (North Press) – A Syrian civilian was killed by a landmine left by the Islamic State (ISIS) in the southern countryside of Hassakeh province in northeast Syria, Kurdish local authorities said on Friday.

 

Ammar Taha Nayef, 27, lost his life on the outskirts of Maghlouja village in Abdul Aziz mountain area south to Hassakeh by a remnant of ISIS, sources from the Autonomous Administration Security Forces, known as Asayish in Kurdish, said.

 

Nayef was a farmer who was working in the field when the landmine exploded.

 

The Asayish said they found many other remnants on the bombing place, including mortar shells and IEDs not exploded yet.

 

Islamic State (ISIS) controlled Abdul Aziz mountain chain and other areas south of Hassakeh in 2014.

 

 Those areas were liberated in June 2015 by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and their all-female brigade (YPJ) which have become the leading force in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the key ally to the US-led global coalition against ISIS.

 

Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and landmines were the main mechanism of defense used by ISIS group in addition to the suicide bombers and car bombs.

 

ISIS used IEDs in Syria not only for impeding the advancement of the Kurdish-led forces but also for keeping the liberated areas unsecure as hundreds of people were killed by remnants of ISIS.

 

Despite the SDF and the US-led Coalition announcing the Islamic State’s defeat in Syria in March 2019 at Baghouz, the terror group’s activity persists in areas the Kurdish-led forces previously liberated.

 

Since then, Islamic State militants appear to be focusing on assassinating civilians working with the local Civil Council to drive the Arab population away from the SDF-affiliated Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria.

 

Northeastern Syria has witnessed ISIS activity tied to sleeper cells in the region, including a series of attacks which resulted in the death of an SDF fighter on May 17 in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.

 

In addition, a major ISIS prison in Hasakah has witnessed repeated unrest as ISIS detainees attempted to take control of the prison, though anti-terror security forces associated with the SDF quickly controlled these uprisings.

 

(Reporting by Hisham Arafat)