ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A female member of the internal security forces (Asayish) in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province was killed by suspected Islamic State (ISIS) gunmen on Tuesday, a war monitor reported.
The Asayish are a police and security force predominantly in northeast Syria (Rojava) that are affiliated to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and defeated the terror group in 2019.
“Two gunmen on a motorbike, who are believed to belong to ISIS, targeted a female fighter of the internal security forces … while she was crossing the road near Al-Basira city eastern of Deir Ezzor, killing her immediately,” reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor.
According to the monitor, 89 operations have been carried out by ISIS in areas under control of the Kurdish administration, which have left 59 dead, including ten civilians, 44 members of security forces, and four ISIS fighters.
ISIS swept through vast swathes of Syrian land in 2014 but it was declared devoid of territorial control after the SDF overran its last bastion in Baghouz in 2019.
After their territorial defeat to a military operation led by the SDF and backed by the United States-led global coalition, ISIS militants have carried out hit-and-run attacks on civilians and military targets of both the Syrian regime and the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES).