“This morning has seen yet another successful #Asayish operation supported by the @Coalition,” read a tweet from the Kurdish-led SDF, referring to local security forces and their international allies. “An #ISIS financier has been captured in #DeirEzzour, stopping the funding of terror and protecting the people.”
Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava), in coordination with the coalition, have carried out a number of recent raids against ISIS. Two days ago, the SDF said they arrested 57 ISIS suspects in October, prevented two car bombs, and foiled ISIS prison breaks and “a new outbreak of terror.”
The increased military operations against ISIS signal a surge in the group’s activities in the region.
According to the latest Pentagon report on the fight against ISIS, the militants’ activities “significantly” decreased from July to September 2021, but, citing the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), it said “there were signs that the group is ‘poised to increase activity in the coming quarter after a period of recuperation and recovery.’”
“The DIA said that ISIS moved some of its fighters during the quarter from the Syrian desert back into Iraq and northeastern Syria, which ISIS perceives to be important operating environments,” added the report.
ISIS seized control of swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, declaring a so-called caliphate in 2014. The terror group was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in two years later.
The SDF is the main ally of the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIS on the ground in Syria.
