SDF captures former ISIS Emir in Syria’s Hasakah
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday that its special units, in collaboration with the US-led Global Coalition, arrested an Islamic State Organization’s (ISIS) Emir, a term used for ISIS senior leaders, after raiding his home in al-Aziziyah neighborhood in Hasakah, a city in northeastern Syria.
In a statement on its official website, the SDF stated that the “Emir was involved in crimes of murder against civilians,” and responsible for transporting ISIS cell members, Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs), and motorcycle bombs to Hasakah and other areas of northeast Syria, as well as smuggling families of some ISIS leaders from Hawl Camp.
The statement said the special units “arrested the terrorist after calling for safe surrender.”
After his surrender, his home was searched, and weapons, documents and technical and military equipment were found in his possession, according to the statement.
On Saturday, the SDF arrested an ISIS sleeper cell’s leader in the town of al-Busayrah, east of Deir ez-Zor Governorate in eastern Syria.
The coalition is working with the SDF to conduct specific operations that target the terrorist organization’s sleeper cells in north and east Syria.
The number of joint operations carried out by the SDF and US-led coalition since the beginning of June has reached six, two in south of Hasakah, one west of Raqqa, and two in Deir ez-Zor, in addition to this one in Hasakah, according to what North Press monitored.
Since the announcement of its complete elimination in March 2019, ISIS has continued its sporadic operations in all of Syria and in the Syrian Badia (desert) in particular, taking advantage of its desert nature.
People and officials in north and east Syria fear that the latest Turkish threats of launching a military operation in northern Syria would lay the ground for ISIS to reorganize its ranks.
On June 2, the Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said that ISIS still poses a threat to the region and that the Turkish threats will negatively affect the campaign against the organization’s sleeper cells.