ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least three members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed by a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) car bombing in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province on Friday.
“This evening, Friday, the mercenaries of the terrorist organization ISIS detonated a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber into one of our military posts in the town of al-Shuhail, in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor,” the SDF said in a statement.
SDF forces confronted the militant as he was attempting to enter through the main gate of the military post, leading to him detonating the car in front of the gate, killing three and injuring seven of their forces, the statement added.
The force accused the Syrian government, which also has forces in the province, of taking advantage of the situation and opening fire on SDF forces as they were attempting to treat the wounded. A fourth member of the SDF was killed by the gunfire.
“As our forces treated the wounded and evacuated the martyred fighters, Syrian regime mercenaries on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river opened fire on our medical personnel,” the SDF said. “This cowardly act resulted in the martyrdom of another one of our fighters.”
The Arab-majority province of Deir ez-Zor was where ISIS militants made their last stand in Syria and were territorially defeated. Control of the province, on the Iraqi border, is now split between the SDF and the Syrian regime, along with its Iranian backers.
It is also home to many of the country’s key oilfields, such as Omar and Conoco, which the US-led global coalition against ISIS helps the SDF protect.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.” While the group was declared territorially defeated in 2019, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast expanses of the Syrian desert as well as several Iraqi provinces.
On Tuesday, a member of the SDF was killed in an ISIS ambush in Deir ez-Zor province.
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.
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