ISIS militant blows himself up amid ongoing clashes in Syria’s Daraa
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – One individual was killed and a leader of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) blew himself up in clashes on Saturday in the town of Jasim in the northern countryside of Daraa, south Syria.
A local source told North Press that the individual was killed due to the ongoing clashes since Friday morning between local armed men and ISIS militants who have fortified in several houses in Jasim.
As a result, five people, including two ISIS militants and three others of the local armed men, were killed in the persistent clashes in Jasim.
The source added a number of ISIS militants blew themselves up in a house where they fortified in the northern neighborhood of Jasim.
One of the ISIS militants, known as Abu Hamza al-Shami, was an ISIS leader.
The armed men extended a previously announced curfew until further notice because ISIS is taking residents as human shields, thus a bakery in the town stopped of working.
A local source told North Press that two brothers Osama Khaled Omaira and Ibrahim Khaled Omaira, members of a local group, were killed in the clashes with ISIS.
Local sources told North Press, “Motaz Turki al-Bardan was killed in an armed clash with ISIS militants.”
Al-Bardan hails from the city of Tafas, and he is a local armed man affiliated with the Central Committee in the western area.”
Ayham Faisl al-Halqi and Ayoub al-Jebawi were killed by local armed men in Jasim.
Al-Halqi hails from Jasim and he was an ISIS leader while al-Jebawi hails from the village of Barqa in the northern countryside of Daraa, and was ISIS member.
Local armed men from different cities and towns in Daraa and military groups affiliated with the Eighth Brigade of the Russian-backed Fifth Corps arrived in the town to support the local armed men, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces stationed in the town and its outskirts did not move or support the local armed men though they (government forces) threatened to storm the town in search of the ISIS militants.
Since the government forces re-captured Daraa in 2018, the governorate has been living in a state of insecurity, with one or two daily assassinations targeting soldiers and officers of the government forces, not to mention the spread of thefts.
In 2021, Daraa Governorate went through an 80-day-seige. After that, a number of Daraa’s notables and government forces, with mediation of Russian officers, reached a ceasefire agreement on September 5, 2021, including handing over weapons and deploying governmental security posts in the towns of the governorate.