“Two ISIS terrorists were killed while planting an IED in Hawaij Dhiban. The IED was intended to target civilians and military forces, aiming to destabilize security,” the SDF announced in a statement.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land amid a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate”.
Though ISIS no longer controls any territory, it continues to pose a security risk by carrying out kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings and the SDF conducts frequent operations against the group.
The Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF, who control northeast Syria (Rojava), fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the terror group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and took the group’s last stronghold in Syria in 2019.
On Monday, the Kurdish-led force foiled an attack by ISIS in Deir ez-Zor and killed two militants in the process. ISIS killed at least six SDF members in two separate attacks the day prior.
In late March, the SDF warned that ISIS still poses a threat to the world and the region as its defeat “requires dismantling its ideological breeding ground.”
“ISIS is still trying to recruit new terrorist elements, attempting to radicalize them into its ranks,” said the SDF, calling on the international community to “collaborate effectively” with its forces.
