|
Syrian rebel forces repel ISIS attack on Hasakah
HASAKAH – Clashes erupted in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province on Sunday after militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) tried to infiltrate into headquarters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), military sources reported. ISIS militants hit a SDF security checkpoint in the vicinity of Shaddadi city south of Hasakah with a car bomb attack, where at least four SDF fighters were injured. Then a group of ISIS militants tried to infiltrate into the SDF headquarters in the area, which led to clashes between the militants and SDF forces. “Daesh terrorists were trying to storm the SDF headquarters after carrying out a car bomb attack on one of our security checkpoints in Shaddadi suburb,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News in Hasakah, using another acronym for ISIS. “However, our forces were able to repel the attack after heavy clashes on Sunday evening.” The clashes between the SDF and ISIS reached the villages of Tal Shaer, Fadghami, Kashkash and Ziyanat in the suburbs of Shaddadi. At least 12 ISIS militants were killed and five others were arrested, while three SDF fighters lost their lives and four others were injured in the clashes, according to informed sources. In mid February 2016, Kurdish YPG units and allied fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the liberation of Shaddadi city in Hasakah province from the Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants, after months of battles with the radical group. ISIS militants had evacuated their headquarters in Shaddadi under heavy bombardment by the Kurdish-Arab alliance of the SDF. “More than 275 ISIS militants were killed and 33 ISIS vehicles were destroyed at the hands of the SDF fighters in the battle for Shaddadi,” the SDF spokesman Talal Silo had told ARA News at the time. The progress came after the SDF units, supported by an air cover from the U.S.-led coalition, cut off the main supply route for the ISIS radical group in al-Hawl near Syria’s northeastern border with Iraq. However, since then ISIS has been trying to infiltrate into the area, launching mortars and car bomb attacks. The group uses its bases in Deir ez-Zor province to attack Hasakah. Furthermore, the SDF alliance had seized control of a key gas facility and main financial resource for the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province in early February, 2016. The western-backed forces regained control of the Jibisa gas facility, located about 12km east of Shaddadi city in southern Hasakah. Posted by: badanov 2016-09-12 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=467287 |