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SDF arrest 63 in round up of ISIS sleeper cells in Raqqa
 [Rudaw] Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) picked up 63 alleged ISIS members in operations in Raqqa, ending a one-day curfew imposed on the city. The Kurdish-led forces captured 63 "forces of Evil complicit in different terrorist activities," the SDF’s media centre announced on Thursday. The individuals were members of sleeper cells spreading "fear, chaos, causing sedition, and anxiety" among the local population, the force added. The night before, a curfew had been imposed on the city. It was lifted on Thursday. Raqqa served as the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS. It was liberated by the SDF and their allied global coalition on October 17, 2017. Much of the city, however, was destroyed in the campaign to liberate it. There are also thousands of mines that have to be cleared. And ISIS sleeper cells are known to wreak havoc ‐ planting roadside kabooms and carrying out liquidations to stir up tribal tensions. Some 99.5 percent of territory once controlled by ISIS has now been liberated, according to the coalition. The group has been corralled into a small pocket of territory on the banks of the Euphrates River, where tens of thousands have fled the fighting in the past weeks. "As we continue squeezing the remaining ISIS fighter in the MERV [middle Euphrates River valley] into a smaller box, now less than one percent of the original caliphate, they are attempting to escape through intermixing with the innocent women and kiddies attempting to flee the fighting," said British Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, a deputy commander within the coalition, on Thursday. "These tactics won't succeed, our Syrian partners are focused on finding ISIS wherever they hide, and our Iraqi partner have secured their borders ensuring ISIS cannot enter Iraq."
The city of Raqa, which was taken by the SDF in 2017 after a massive operation by the US-led coalition, has been hit by a spate of bombings in recent weeks. An explosion on Monday wounded Kurdish security forces in the city, the Observatory said. Last month, an IS suicide bomber attacked a centre for Kurdish forces, killing four civilians and a Kurdish fighter. The Observatory says that suspected IS sleeper cells have allegedly assassinated at least 50 civilians and 135 SDF fighters in Kurdish-held territory, including eastern Deir Ezzor, Hasakeh's countryside, Raqa and Manbij since August. Posted by: trailing wife 2019-02-08 |
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