“Our forces successfully foiled two ISIS terrorist attacks Wednesday evening in Deir Ezzor’s eastern countryside, when ISIS cells targeted a checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces [Asayish] in Dhiban and a Self-Defense vehicle in Jdeidet Akidat,” the SDF said in a statement.
No casualties were recorded in the attacks, according to the SDF.
“Vigilance and swift response by our forces foiled both attacks,” the statement added.
The attacks came a day after two SDF fighters were killed by an ISIS ambush in Deir ez-Zor, before the jihadists fled the scene.
The SDF, backed by the United States, functions as the de facto military force of northeast Syria (Rojava) and remains a key partner of the US-led coalition against ISIS.
ISIS has increased its attacks in SDF-controlled areas, targeting both civilians and security forces, according to the Kurdish-led force and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
ISIS captured large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in a brazen 2014 offensive before the group’s so-called “caliphate” was declared territorially defeated in 2019 as a coalition of local Kurdish, Iraqi, and Syrian forces thwarted the militants.
However, the group remains a security threat and continues to carry out hit-and-run attacks, abductions, and bombings. In Syria, the jihadists have tried to take advantage of the changing security landscape after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to regroup and reorganize, particularly in the vast central and eastern deserts.
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi has repeatedly warned about the persistent threat of ISIS, especially within detention centers and camps. In January, Abdi stressed the “need to intensify efforts to continue the fight against ISIS if we don’t want to see it make a comeback.”