ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - One of the leaders of the Islamic State (ISIS) involved in the 2014 attack on the Kurdish town of Kobane in northern Syria has been arrested by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Farhad Shami, the head of SDF Media Center, said in a tweet on Saturday that “our forces announce the arresting of one of the most dangerous Daesh’s emirs who had participated in the 2014 attack against Kobane & committed many massacres against our people in NE Syria.”
Shami did not clarify when and where the ISIS leader was detained. However, he added that his “confessions” will be released soon.
The ISIS leader, named Mohammed Abd al-Awwad and known as Rashid, admitted to being the officer of terrorist operations in the militant group, the SDF said in a statement published along with his confession video.
He was tasked to arrange an operation to storm a prison holding ISIS members in Hasaka, as well as “securing weapons and ammunition and leading the ‘suicide bombers’ in the possible attack," the forces noted. Fourteen suicide bombers and two bombs were prepared for the attack.
ISIS seized control of swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, declaring a so-called caliphate in 2014. In mid-September that year, the group began laying siege to Kobane, in Syria’s Aleppo province, taking village after village as they slowly tightened a noose around the city. Thousands of civilians fled across the border to Turkey.
With the help of the coalition and Peshmerga forces, the YPG - backbone of the SDF - defeated ISIS militants in the city on January 26, 2015. This was the first major military defeat of ISIS, and Kobane made headlines around the world, becoming a symbol of victory over the terror group.
The weeks of battle to free Kobane left some 70 percent of the city destroyed. The local population and authorities have slowly brought life back to the city, reconstructing houses and roads and restoring basic services.
The terror group was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria two years later. However, it continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across both countries.
SDF, with aerial support from the anti-ISIS global coalition, have increased operations against the group in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria where the extremists remain active.
Five “dangerous” members of ISIS were killed in a joint raid by the SDF and the coalition near al-Busayrah town in Deir ez-Zor.
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.’”
Updated at 11:20 pm
