The Kurdish-led SDF secured the bridge after an overnight fight and held onto it after an ISIS counterattack Tuesday morning.
Militants “launched an opposite attack this morning to recover the bridge, but our forces confronted them and killed them,” the SDF stated.
The bridge connects the town of Al Boukamal on the western side of the river with villages and farmlands on the eastern bank, about 7 kilometres upstream from the border with Iraq.
Al Boukamal and areas on the west side of the river are under the control of forces loyal to the Syrian regime.
The SDF controls most of the territory on the east side and are battling to oust ISIS from the last stronghold in eastern Syria.
The multiethnic force with the backing of the international coalition against ISIS has been closing in on what is known as the Hajin pocket for months. They launched the current phase of the offensive last week.
The SDF says there are many foreign fighters among the estimated 3,000 militants in the pocket.
Reporting “violent clashes” between the SDF and ISIS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 50 deaths among the SDF’s ranks since September 10.
ISIS is fighting back using techniques it has honed in conflicts across Syria and Iraq: planting mines, moving about under cover of tunnels, sending suicide bombers and car bombs.
The SDF and the coalition established the nearby al-Bahra Camp to shelter civilians and families of ISIS fighters fleeing the fighting. Tens of families have so far made it to the camp, according to the Observatory.
The SDF also freed two Yezidis who had been held by the group, the force stated on Tuesday. The two were from Shingal, the statement detailed, but did not provide further information.
Four years after ISIS swept through Shingal, 1,102 Yezidis, mostly women and young girls, are still missing, according to recent statistics released by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
