The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

SOHR: Former SDF member killed in Deir al-Zor

A former member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) affiliated Deir al-Zor Military Council was gunned down by unknown assailants, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported on Tuesday.

Citing activists, SOHR said he died from his wounds after shooters shot at him and his family at al-Sa’a roundabout in al-Busayra city in the eastern countryside of Deir al Zor.

“This attack came as a part of ISIS escalating operations against civilians and SDF fighters,” SOHR said.

Although the SDF and the US-led Coalition announced the Islamic State’s territorial defeat in Syria on March 23, 2019, in Baghouz, the terror group’s sleeper cell attacks persist in areas liberated from their brutal rule, especially in Deir al-Zor.

Assassinations by ISIS and other factions have especially targeted leading Arab tribal leaders or officials close to the SDF-backed authorities in northeast Syria.

Nevertheless, the number of attacks claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria hit a record low in recent weeks, new data from the Syria-based Rojava Information Center (RIC) shows.

In a recent piece, Ido Levy, an associate fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, pointed out that the August 12 edition of the ISIS newsletter al-Naba did not mention any attacks on the SDF. Instead, it only referred to attacks the group claimed against the Syrian government.

Levy cited data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), which documented 624 fatalities caused by ISIS attacks in Syria through July 28. Out of these, 72 percent were among pro-Assad forces and only 7 percent among the SDF forces.

 

 

 

 

Source: Kurdistan24