“Islamic State cells carried out three operations during the past 24 hours that resulted in the killing of 5 members and the wounding of a leader within the Hajin Military Council, which is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.
Hours prior, another SDF fighter was killed by ISIS gunmen in Deir ez-Zor, near the town of Dhiban, according to the monitor.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land amid a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate”.
Though ISIS no longer controls any territory, it continues to pose a security risk by carrying out kidnappings, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings and the SDF conducts frequent operations against the group.
In late March, the SDF warned that ISIS still poses a threat to the world and the region as its defeat “requires dismantling its ideological breeding ground.”
“ISIS is still trying to recruit new terrorist elements, attempting to radicalize them into its ranks,” said the SDF, calling on the international community to “collaborate effectively” with its forces.
On Thursday, the SDF announced the capture of two ISIS members in Deir ez-Zor accused of planning acts of terror in northeast Syria (Rojava).