[ARA News] QAMISHLI – Subsequent to fierce clashes with the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS), the Kurdish-Arab alliance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recaptured new areas near the town of al-Hawl in the eastern countryside of Hasakah, northeast Syria, military sources reported on Wednesday. Speaking to ARA News, the official spokesman of the SDF, Colonel Talal Silo, said that their forces regained control of Bahrat al-Khatooniya village in the vicinity of al-Hawl town near the Iraqi border “after fierce clashes with ISIS terrorists”.
“Bahrat al-Khatooniya and the surrounding villages are now under our control after ISIS terrorists were forced to withdraw. The terrorists are now stranded inside al-Hawl town,” Silo said.
The official spokesman of the SDF added that warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition bombed an ISIS tactical unit on Wednesday, killing eight members of the terror group in the vicinity of Bahrat al-Khatooniya.
“Our ground operations, coupled with the coalition’s airstrikes, made this advance possible,” Silo told ARA News, pointing out that ISIS militants are currently trying to fortify their main strongholds in the town of al-Hawl by planting hundreds of mines in its suburbs.
On the other hand, two SDF fighters were killed in Wednesday’s clashes near al-Hawl, while four others were injured in clashes with a group of ISIS militants who attempted to break into the SDF-held Tishreen oilfield south of Hasakah.
The SDF has been fighting ISIS for more than ten days, backed by air cover from the U.S.-led coalition. The SDF includes the Kurdish forces of YPG and YPJ; the Syriac Military Council; the Arab tribal group of al-Sanadeed; al-Jazeera brigades; Jaish al-Thuwar group and Burkan al-Furat battalion.
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