SDF announces end of first phase of joint operation with Coalition in Syria
SHADDADI, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the end of the first phase of the joint military operation with the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, known as “Deterrence of Terrorism,” at a press conference in the town of Shaddadi on Wednesday.
At the conference, the SDF announced that they arrested 110 suspected ISIS members and collaborators in the six-day operation, which began on Thursday last week with the aim to “target ISIS's hideouts and hotbeds which were a source of concern to the people and that work to disturb security and stability in the region and threatens the return of ISIS,” according to a statement by SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel. The forces cleared an area of 175 km by 60km, which included 150 villages and farms.
The operation targeted the areas between the eastern banks of the Khabur River to the Syrian-Iraqi border, and Iraqi intelligence services coordinated with the SDF and Coalition during the campaign. SDF general command added that the elite SDF units known as “Commandos” and the Global Coalition raided 56 different locations. One division did come under fire from ISIS sleeper cells at least once during the operation, though no casualties were reported among the SDF. The SDF seized large quantities of weapons and ammunition, including silencers and materials used to make explosives.
More than six thousand fighters took part in the campaign, according to what SDF commander Adnan Afrin told North Press earlier. On Saturday, SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi tweeted that the SDF “achieved successive victories in our campaign against ISIS cells in Deir arZour [sic] & Hasakah.”
This operation is a continuation of long-term cooperation between the SDF and the Global Coalition, which has provided military, intelligence, and logistical support to the former for several years, most recently providing riot gear and anti-riot training after a series of ISIS uprisings in Hasakah prison.