US forces said on Monday they had captured an operative of the ‘jihadist’ organization Islamic State (IS) in a helicopter raid in northern Syria, where fighting between Kurds and local militiamen continued.
The jihadist militant, Abu Halil al-Fad’ani, “is suspected of having relations with the IS network in the region,” a US central command said in a statement.
His arrest last Saturday increases the ability of U.S. counterterrorism operations to track down other members of the group, Lt. Col. Troy Garlock, spokesman for the command, said in a statement.
The US has about 900 troops in Syria dedicated to hunting down members of IS, which controlled this Syrian region until 2019.
At the same time and according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), at least 19 people have been killed in fighting between Kurdish forces and local militias in Deir al Zur province, eastern Syria, where a violent battle took place just a few weeks ago. new wave of violence.
The clashes took place at two points in the town of Dhiban between members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Syrian Kurdish militias, and “a group of local armed men who infiltrated the area,” the OSDH assured in a statement. .
According to the non-governmental organization (NGO), based in the United Kingdom and with a wide network of staff on the ground, local fighters were supported during their action by artillery fire from areas under the control of the Syrian government.
According to reports from Syrian media and activists, the SDF imposed a ceasefire this Monday in several towns in Deir al Zur province, including in Ziban, close to the border with Iraq, where the country’s largest oil fields are located. the bases of North American armed forces have been installed.
The civil war in Syria, which has been going on for twelve years, has already left at least 500,000 dead. The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, based in the capital Damascus, views the Kurdish forces as secessionist fighters and denounces their alliance with the United States in the fight against IS and its enclave in eastern Syria.
Source: DN
