ERBIL,Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Internal Security Forces (Asayish) in northeast Syria (Rojava) confirmed on Tuesday that five of their personnel were killed and two others were injured in a series of attacks by “terrorist groups” against their positions.
In a statement, the Asayish said that a series of “treacherous attacks” carried out by “terrorist groups” had targeted their positions, resulting in the deaths of five members in the Shaddadi area of northeastern Syria’s Hasaka province, and the injury of two others in the Tabqa region of northern Raqqa province.
Both Tabqa and Shaddadi are in areas administered by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES).
TThe Asayish characterized the attacks as “a futile attempt to undermine stability and spread chaos” that “will not deter us from performing our duty." The Kurdish-led forces added that "extensive investigations" are underway to identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable.
A day prior, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that five members of the Asayish were killed in an attack carried out by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Rojava.
The UK-based war monitor characterized the attack as part of a broader ISIS campaign aimed at “reorganizing its ranks and creating a state of chaos.”
Since the beginning of 2025, SOHR says it has “documented 126 ISIS operations” in areas administered by the DAANES. “These operations included armed assaults, targeted killings and bombings,” resulting in the deaths of 51 individuals - 34 fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), nine civilians, and eight ISIS members.
The US-backed SDF was instrumental in defeating ISIS in 2019 and capturing thousands of the group’s fighters. The force continues to operate in coordination with hundreds of US troops as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Both the SDF and Asayish are also primarily responsible for securing the Roj and al-Hol camps in Rojava. These camps house thousands of individuals suspected of ISIS ties and are widely viewed as potential breeding grounds for extremist ideology.
Since its defeat in 2019, ISIS has been trying to regain its strength, particularly after a coalition of opposition groups led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on December 8 toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi has repeatedly warned of the growing threat posed by ISIS. In mid- January, he urged the “need to intensify efforts to continue the fight against ISIS if we don’t want to see it make a comeback.”
