Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
, while in Afrin the Kurdish forces have also taken fire from
The mostly-Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) comprise the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has been the partnered ground force for the US-led international coalition against ISIS.
"Amid fierce battles against [ISIS] in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, the regime and its militias tried to block the progress of the fighters by shelling," read an SDF Press statement regarding the events on Thursday.
The reported "heavy weapons" shelling occured on the east bank of the Euphrates in the Deir ez-Zor suburb of al-Basira, according the SDF, was liberated a few days ago. The area is in east central Syria.
The Arab publication Asharq al-Awsat reported Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad labeled the SDF "a terrorist organization" during an interview on Iranian television.
"Tehran continues its pressure on the Syrian regime in Damascus to go into a military confrontation with the Washington-backed Syrian Democratic Forces," Kurdish sources told Asharq al-Awsat.