ISIS claims responsibility for assassinating SDF leader in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor
DEIR EZ-Zor, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, a leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lost his life in a shooting by unidentified armed men in a town east of Deir ez-Zor, east Syria, which the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) claimed responsibility for hours later.
The ISIS-run agency Amaq publicized a statement saying that the ISIS militants targeted the SDF leader in the town of Abu Hardub, 80 kilometers east of Deir ez-Zor, with machineguns, wounding him, and later to succumb to his injuries.
A military source of the SDF in Abu Hardub said that the armed men, who were riding a motorcycle, fired on the 35-year-old SDF leader Bassam al-Suwaileh, who died of his injuries.
The source told North Press Agency that the attackers fled towards the depth of the desert in the town after the operation.
As a result, the SDF started a campaign to pursue the attackers, according to the source.
The countryside of Deir ez-Zor was an ISIS enclave which was liberated in 2019 by the SDF and the US-led Global Coalition. After that, a civil autonomous administration was formed to run the affairs of the region. This civil administration is affiliated with the AANES.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the SDF defeated ISIS militarily.
Recently, the countryside of Deir ez-Zor has witnessed an increase in killing cases carried out against the SDF fighters, tribal leaders, civilians, and employees of the Autonomous Administration though the SDF carries out intensive security operations.
Two people, including a child, were seriously injured on Thursday while accidently being near the SDF checkpoint, which were attacked with automatic weapons by unknown assailants in the town of al-Shuhail east of Deir ez-Zor.