...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS).
The individuals were captured during a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) anti-ISIS operation in Hasaka province on Thursday.
"Our forces apprehended 16 ISIS operatives and controllers who were involved in carrying out terrorist attacks against our forces, and those who provided facilitation and support to ISIS cells in executing these terrorist acts," read a statement from SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami.
The SDF also seized a number of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment during the operation.
ISIS rose to power by seizing swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014 and was declared territorially defeated five years later. Though the group no longer controls any territory, it continues to pose a security risk carrying out kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings on both sides of the border.
The SDF fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS in Syria.
On Thursday, Shami announced that Rojava’s anti-terror forces (YAT), with the help of the global coalition, captured a key ISIS operative named Husin Nawaf al-Husin in Deir ez-Zor.
Husin is accused of being responsible for ISIS operations "targeting military forces and civil institutions."
Last year, the SDF arrested more than 350 ISIS members in areas they control.