‘Desperate’ clashes as ISIS fights to cling on to Hajin
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – ISIS is putting up a “desperate” attempt to repel the SDF in the Hajin area, the last pocket of territory it controls in eastern Syria, according to a conflict monitor, amid multiple recent setbacks for the Kurdish-led forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Reports reported “violent clashes” between the SDF and ISIS militants on Friday.
The SDF reported on Friday they killed 15 militants in the last 24 hours and repulsed several attacks on their positions, backed by coalition airstrikes.
At least 32 civilians were killed in the airstrikes on Thursday and Friday, however, according to the Observatory.
The UK-based monitor said the SDF brought in special forces reinforcements after ISIS managed to regain some territory earlier this week.
A Kurdish commander said this week that the fight against ISIS is taking “longer than expected,” because of weather conditions and the concentration of hardcore jihadists with years of fighting experience.
The SDF has suffered a number of recent reported setbacks.
More than 70 SDF fighters were killed by ISIS last week, according to the Observatory.
An SDF commander and a local council chief were assassinated in eastern Deir ez-Zor by unidentified men on a motorcycle, the Observatory reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Russia’s RIA news service reported that six Kurdish fighters were killed and 15 seriously injured in an American airstrike.
They were hit while preparing to launch an attack on an ISIS position in the Hajin area, RIA reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic military source.
The coalition said they are investigating the reports of a possible friendly fire incident in answer to a query from Rudaw English.
“The SDF is a partner in the effort to defeat ISIS, and we will continue to support them as they liberate the last stronghold of ISIS in the Middle Euphrates River Valley,” said coalition spokesperson Col. Sean Ryan.
ISIS has also reportedly abducted a large number of civilians this week.
The militant group is holding 130 families it kidnapped from al-Bahra camp where civilians displaced from the Hajin area are sheltering, according to the Observatory, expressing concerns they could be executed.
The number of “hostages” is nearly 700 and jihadists are threatening to execute them, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“ISIS terrorists have delivered ultimatums and made certain demands, threatening to shoot ten people every day,” said Putin in Sochi on Thursday.
“This is just horrible, it is a catastrophe,” he said, claiming that Americans and Europeans were among those kidnapped.
The Observatory contradicted Putin, saying most of the estimated 90 women who are among the abducted families are from former Soviet Union nations, Russia, or Iraq. The women were spouses or widows of ISIS fighters.
Related: UN raises alarm about 10,000 civilians trapped in Hajin
ISIS is trying to bargain with the coalition, using the hostages. The group has said they would release the women and children in return for getting food and medical aid. This has been rejected by the coalition, according to the Observatory.
Further north, a bomb attached to a vehicle belonging to the Kurdish Red Crescent exploded in the city of Hasaka, injuring ten people on Thursday night.
Though ISIS is on the backfoot, largely defeated in Syria, it has shifted tactics, carrying out kidnappings and executions to stoke fear in the population.
Jihadists seized more than 30 Druze in Syria’s southern Sweida province in late July. There are reports that the SDF have made a deal with ISIS to swap detainees in SDF and regime custody for the women and children Druze being held by the militants.
SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel said on Friday that no deal has been made yet. But the SDF is ready to exchange ISIS members with the women and children from Sweida, he told local ANHA news.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Reports reported “violent clashes” between the SDF and ISIS militants on Friday.
The SDF reported on Friday they killed 15 militants in the last 24 hours and repulsed several attacks on their positions, backed by coalition airstrikes.
At least 32 civilians were killed in the airstrikes on Thursday and Friday, however, according to the Observatory.
The UK-based monitor said the SDF brought in special forces reinforcements after ISIS managed to regain some territory earlier this week.
A Kurdish commander said this week that the fight against ISIS is taking “longer than expected,” because of weather conditions and the concentration of hardcore jihadists with years of fighting experience.
The SDF has suffered a number of recent reported setbacks.
More than 70 SDF fighters were killed by ISIS last week, according to the Observatory.
An SDF commander and a local council chief were assassinated in eastern Deir ez-Zor by unidentified men on a motorcycle, the Observatory reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Russia’s RIA news service reported that six Kurdish fighters were killed and 15 seriously injured in an American airstrike.
They were hit while preparing to launch an attack on an ISIS position in the Hajin area, RIA reported, citing an unnamed diplomatic military source.
The coalition said they are investigating the reports of a possible friendly fire incident in answer to a query from Rudaw English.
“The SDF is a partner in the effort to defeat ISIS, and we will continue to support them as they liberate the last stronghold of ISIS in the Middle Euphrates River Valley,” said coalition spokesperson Col. Sean Ryan.
ISIS has also reportedly abducted a large number of civilians this week.
The militant group is holding 130 families it kidnapped from al-Bahra camp where civilians displaced from the Hajin area are sheltering, according to the Observatory, expressing concerns they could be executed.
The number of “hostages” is nearly 700 and jihadists are threatening to execute them, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“ISIS terrorists have delivered ultimatums and made certain demands, threatening to shoot ten people every day,” said Putin in Sochi on Thursday.
“This is just horrible, it is a catastrophe,” he said, claiming that Americans and Europeans were among those kidnapped.
The Observatory contradicted Putin, saying most of the estimated 90 women who are among the abducted families are from former Soviet Union nations, Russia, or Iraq. The women were spouses or widows of ISIS fighters.
Related: UN raises alarm about 10,000 civilians trapped in Hajin
ISIS is trying to bargain with the coalition, using the hostages. The group has said they would release the women and children in return for getting food and medical aid. This has been rejected by the coalition, according to the Observatory.
Further north, a bomb attached to a vehicle belonging to the Kurdish Red Crescent exploded in the city of Hasaka, injuring ten people on Thursday night.
Though ISIS is on the backfoot, largely defeated in Syria, it has shifted tactics, carrying out kidnappings and executions to stoke fear in the population.
Jihadists seized more than 30 Druze in Syria’s southern Sweida province in late July. There are reports that the SDF have made a deal with ISIS to swap detainees in SDF and regime custody for the women and children Druze being held by the militants.
SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel said on Friday that no deal has been made yet. But the SDF is ready to exchange ISIS members with the women and children from Sweida, he told local ANHA news.