ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (ISIS) militants have stepped up attacks on Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the south of the self-administered region in northern Syria as the Turkish army and its proxy groups pound Kurdish positions from the north.
The SDF, backed by the US-led international coalition, struck a final blow to the ISIS territorial caliphate in March, ending five years of bloodshed by the extremist group and detaining thousands of ISIS fighters including Europeans and Americans in their final stronghold of Baghouz, in Deir Ez-Zor governorate.
With the SDF distracted by the Turkish invasion, emboldened ISIS sleeper cells have upped their attacks on the force, most recently near the al-Hol camp where tens of thousands of ISIS families and supporters are being held. As detainees staged riots inside the camp, militants targeted a vehicle belonging to the SDF in the vicinity of the camp on Sunday, killing and injuring a number of fighters.
The ISIS propaganda channel Nashirnews via messaging app Telegram said on Monday that the “soldiers of the caliphate” targeted a vehicle of the “apostate,” referring to SDF forces, with an improvised explosive device (IED) near the grain silo in al-Hol town killing and injuring those inside the vehicle.
The SDF called on the international community to shoulder its responsibility by repatriating over 2,000 foreign fighters currently detained in northern Syria, but has received no answer. Dozens of children born to ISIS families have been taken back, but European countries appear to be unprepared to take responsibility for their adults.
Fear is growing in northern Syria as the Turkish invasion is causing instability and insecurity with the SDF forced to shift their priority from containing ISIS to confronting Turkish-backed extremist forces entering the Kurdish region. American media reported on Monday, quoting a senior US administration official, that the Turkish-backed proxies were planning to release ISIS prisoners in areas they had seized while placing the blame on the Kurds.
Turkish shelling and airstrikes have targeted areas in the vicinity of several camps and prisons where dangerous ISIS militants and those affiliated with them are held. Kurdish officials said on Monday that 785 individual affiliated with ISIS fled one prison alone. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the incident “disinformation” by the Kurdish forces.
Fighting between the SDF and the Turkish side reached the countryside of Manbij on Monday evening. US President Donald Trump warned Ankara that Kobane, the scene of the grueling 2014-2015 battle and first victory over ISIS, was off-limits. The US government constructed a sprawling airbase in the Kobane area, used by heavy military planes.
European countries are concerned about the mayhem in northern Syria and the possibility of the release of thousands of ISIS fighters following Turkey’s incursion. The European Council condemned the attack on Monday and several countries halted their arms exports to Ankara.
As Erdogan insisted on Tuesday that he would continue his invasion of Kurdish areas, ISIS militants are conducting a sophisticated campaign of intimidation and assassination of individuals like heads of villages who are the eyes and ears of the SDF in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces.
“The fighters of the Islamic State killed the Mukhtar of Komin in al-Shiheil town of Al Busayrah district in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor today,” a statement published on Telegram from the propaganda outlet Amaq news agency claimed on Monday. Mukhtars are the heads of villages and neighborhoods across northern Syria and work closely with the SDF to monitor suspicious activities in their respected areas.
Further south, ISIS claimed on Monday that four SDF fighters were killed and one wounded in an IED explosion in Theban sub-district in the Euphrates River valley.
Across the border, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday in a statement that it was concerned about the prospect of ISIS militants going free in northern Syria and has sent reinforcements to close off the border.
The SDF have held their ground on the southern front against sleeper cells of the Islamic State and scattered groups of militants in the Euphrates River valley, but it is not clear how long the force can fight both battles.
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