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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
SDF capture senior ISIS leader in Deir ez-Zor, launch big attack vs. ISIS
2018-12-01
[Rudaw] SDF announced the capture of a high-ranking ISIS leader in Deir ez-Zor.

Osama al-Awaid
...which Al Masdar spells Usama Al-Awaid...
was captured in an operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) counter-terror units on November 22 in Ta’ana village of Deir ez-Zor province, where he had been in hiding, according to the force.

Awaid "had been in charge of security affairs in ISIS-held regions across northern Syrian cities such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor," the SDF stated.

They accuse Awaid of being directly involved in 40 deadly attacks on the SDF and civilians.

Mustafa Bali, media officer for the SDF, described Awaid as an assistant to ISIS leader His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
...the head of ISIS, or what remains of it, and a veteran of the Abu Graib jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us. So far he has been killed at least four times, though not yet by a stake through the heart...
ISIS’ influence and financial resources have been slashed. The group is now corralled into territory that is less than one percent of the ground it once controlled across Syria and Iraq, according to the US-led global coalition.

There are an estimated 2,000 Lions of Islam in the Euphrates River valley between Deir ez-Zor’s Hajin town and the border with Iraq. They are a battle-hardened and ideologically-driven group that includes many imported muscle and big shots.

The SDF have recently suffered high casualties as ISIS took advantage of bad weather and a distraction from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor....
, which drew the SDF’s attention northward when it fired at Kurdish positions and villages on the border with Turkey.

"Our forces face many obstacles, to include the challenging weather and lack of visibility," said SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel this week.

"ISIS may seem to have the advantage of knowing the terrain, using previously built defences such as trenches and tunnels. They also continue their inhuman and radical use of suicide vehicles and civilians as human shields. However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
despite these factors, we are confident of our ability to win and achieve the final defeat of terrorism."

Conflict monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday it was monitoring a new shipment of coalition weapons and military equipment being sent to the SDF in the Euphrates River valley from the Kurdistan Region. It documented 75 trucks, including 30 loaded with Hummers, 20 carrying Jeeps, and others with petrol and other vehicles.

It also reported a buildup of 15,000 more SDF troops in preparation for a new operation against ISIS.
Al Masdar has video of the American convoy here.
US-backed forces launch big attack against Daesh in southeast Deir Ezzor

[AlMasdar] The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched a big attack against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS/ISIS/IS/ISIS) bandidos gunnies in the southeastern countryside of Deir Ezzor this evening.

Backed by US Coalition Arclight airstrikes, the Syrian Democratic Forces restarted their offensive operations around the strategic town of Hajin in a bid to break into ISIS’s eastern Euphrates pocket.

Thus far, no gains have been reported by the U.S.-backed forces; however, it appears that primary attack has yet to begin on the ISIS pocket.

Prior to the offensive, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the U.S. Coalition killed over 30 civilians in their recent strikes on the southeastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
Posted by:trailing wife

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