ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish security forces (Asayish) in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Thursday said that they captured “dangerous terrorist elements” planning to target the international coalition bases in the region.
“Our General Security Forces and Special Forces (HAT) conducted two precise security operations in the rural areas of Hasaka and Jal Agha, targeting dangerous terrorist elements who were planning to carry out attacks on international coalition bases in the region,” read a statement from Rojava Asayish.
The operation was conducted after midnight on Tuesday, according to the statement, during which the group’s leader was identified in the village of al-Mizar in the countryside of Hasaka.
The security forces also reported seizing weapons in the operation, including several rockets.
The statement did not clarify whether the apprehended individuals were members of the Islamic State (ISIS) or other groups in the region.
The operation comes as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls Rojava, ramped up its joint anti-ISIS operations with the global coalition.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based conflict monitor, reported on Monday that since the start of August, the SDF and coalition have conducted six “intensive security operations” resulting in the arrests of eight members of ISIS cells and the killing of three others in the provinces of Hasaka, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor.
The goal of the joint operations, according to SOHR, was to eliminate the ongoing threats posed by ISIS cells to civilians and business people in northeast Syria.
ISIS rose to power in 2014, seizing large territories in Iraq and Syria and declaring a so-called “caliphate.” While the group was territorially defeated in 2019, it has continued to pose significant security threats through attacks in both Syria and Iraq.
The Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF, who control northeast Syria (Rojava), played a key role in defeating ISIS, capturing thousands of fighters and their families when the group's last stronghold fell in 2019. The SDF operates alongside hundreds of US troops as part of the international coalition against ISIS.