ISIS claims assassinating SDF fighter in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed on Monday targeting a fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in a town in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria.
An SDF military source in the town of Shuhail, 40 km east of Deir ez-Zor, said that gunmen riding a motorcycle shot the 24-year-old Tamim al-Majwal, a member of the SDF, near the al-Attal Roundabout at the entrance to the town.
The SDF fighter was coming to his house to spend his vacation, only to be assassinated before reaching his house, the source added.
Although the SDF launches intensive security operations, the countryside of Deir ez-Zor has recently witnessed an increase in killing incidents carried out against SDF members, employees of the Autonomous Administration, tribal figures and civil residents.
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 there.
Since the beginning of this month, ISIS has claimed nine operations in the SDF-held areas, six of them in Deir ez-Zor.
On August 4, ISIS-run Amaq News Agency published a statement saying that the organization’s militants had beheaded a former SDF fighter in the village of Abraha, in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, defeated ISIS after fierce battles in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, bringing an end to the so-called caliphate declared by the terrorist ISIS.