ISIS uses sandstorm as cover to kill 50 US-backed fighters in three days in Syria
About 50 US-backed fighters were killed in battles with ISIS in Deir Ezzor province since Friday in some of the fiercest clashes in Syria in months.
“ISIS used sandstorms and fog to launch a large counter-attack against our forces and infiltrate areas that we had liberated recently,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, told The National.
The latest counter-attack is not the first time SDF fighters have been forced to retreat since the start of a nearly three-month offensive against ISIS, which has so far failed to achieve major gains.
This suggests that militants still have sufficient defensive and offensive capabilities to hold what little ground they still control in east Syria.
Omar Abu Leila, the head of the activist-run DeirEzzor24 news website, said up to 50 SDF fighters were killed in counter-attacks by ISIS in the villages of Al Bahra and Gharanij in the past 72 hours.
The militants took at least 20 others hostage, he told The National.
He also said that the extremists killed at least two civilians, while 30 others are missing.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of SDF fighters killed since Friday at 92. The monitoring group said about 61 militants and 51 civilians, mostly relatives of fighters, died in the violence in which US-led coalition air strikes targeted extremist positions in the Hajin pocket.
The Observatory described it as one of the “biggest and fiercest” battles in recent months.
The SDF spokesman refused to reveal an exact casualty count for its fighters but said that he believed the number provided by the Observatory was exaggerated.
When asked to confirm whether 20 SDF fighters were taken captive, Mr Bali said that some of his fighters “may have been captured”, but he refused to disclose a figure.
He said that his forces had killed scores of ISIS militants and detained several fighters after fierce battles.
The SDF, a Kurdish-led alliance, has been battling to oust ISIS from the area near the
Iraqi border since September. The Observatory said 452 SDF fighters and about 739 ISIS militants were killed since the US-backed campaign was launched nearly three months ago.
Mr Omar and the Observatory said a convoy of militants used the cover of heavy fog and sandstorms on Friday, penetrating the two areas near Al Tanak oilfield, which is held by SDF and coalition forces.
Coalition warplanes were flying overhead at the time of the attack but failed to intercept the convoy, despite receiving warnings from residents, including groups fighting with the SDF. The US coalition was not available for comment.
ISIS fighters have since withdrawn from the area. Eastern Syria’s Hajin area is the last significant remnant of the so-called caliphate ISIS proclaimed in 2014. The rest has been lost to offensives launched by different factions in Syria and Iraq.
Outside Hajin, the group’s operations are confined to sleeper cells and to hideouts in sparsely populated desert and mountain areas.
Abu Kameel, a member of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces, told The National that there was no fighting near the Iraqi border this week.
But Qais Al Khazali, the leader of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl Al Haq group, which is part of the PMF, urged the government to provide a long-term border protection role for the militias.
“Securing Iraq’s borders with Syria is among the most important duties of the Popular Mobilisation Forces right now,” he told Reuters at his office in the Shiite city of Najaf.
“The Daesh threat against Iraq won’t end as long as Syria is unstable.
“The PMF proved it is the military side most capable of dealing with Daesh. Maybe the armed forces can invest the PMF in duties that include border security.”