93rd month of Coalition operations in Syria | Security operations against ISIS escalate and nearly 190 trucks arrive at military bases under ongoing reinforcements
Completing the 93rd consecutive month of military operations against the “Islamic State” in Syria, the International Coalition continues sending in military reinforcement to SDF-held areas, carrying out raids, arrests, and various security operations in several areas controlled by SDF. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in turn, tracked and monitored all operations and movement of the International Coalition during the last month.
In the 93rd month of International Coalition operations in Syria, 190 trucks and vehicles affiliated to the Coalition, carrying military and logistical supplies, crossed into Syria from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in five batches on the 23rd and 30th of May and the 16th, 19th, and 20th of June. The trucks headed to the Coalition’s military bases in Al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor in north-east Syria region.
In the past month, SOHR activists also documented the participation of the International Coalition in eight joint operations with SDF, namely, raids and airdrops, arresting 19 persons in areas in Deir Ezzor, Al-Hasakah, Al-Raqqah and Aleppo.
The most notable security operation against ISIS cells was carried out on June 15 when Coalition Forces arrested three ISIS members in an airdrop operation in Al-Humaira area in Jarabulus countryside, north-east of Aleppo: a senior leader who is an explosive expert and drone specialist and two escorts, amid unconfirmed reports about the arrest of three others.
Reliable sources informed SOHR that the operation also aimed to arrest many other ISIS leaders and members present in that area of Jarabulus countryside. However, the news of flights by Coalition helicopters in that airspace prompted many ISIS members and leaders to change their places and redeploy to different areas, which impeded Coalition Forces from pursuing the operation.
The sources also added that intelligence information about the presence of a large number of ISIS leaders and members in that area was obtained by SDF in cooperation with their proxies there, where an Islamist faction covers up ISIS leaders and members.
Coalition helicopters also came under attack with Dushka weapons while carrying out the airdrop in Al-Humaira area in Jarabulus countryside, north-east of Aleppo. In addition, clashes erupted between Coalition Forces and ISIS fighters.
Moreover, in the 93rd month of Coalition operations in Syria, International Coalition Forces conducted five rounds of live-fire exercises at their military bases, and they are as follows:
- Two rounds of joint exercises with SDF in Deir Ezzor were conducted in the vicinity of Al-Omar oil field (the largest Coalition base in Syria) on the 29th of May and the 14th of June.
- Three rounds of joint military drills with Maghaweer Al-Thawrah faction were conducted in the 55-kilometre zone at Al-Tanaf base of the International Coalition, on the eastern border of Syria with Jordan and Iraq, on the 30th of May and the 4th and 14th of June.
June 2022: Another month passes and no investigation into alleged Coalition massacres
Despite SOHR repeated and “unheeded” appeals, International Coalition and SDF have not announced the results of interrogations with ISIS detainees and what happened to the thousands of abductees. The Syrian Observatory had previously called upon the international community to investigate reports regarding the killing of 200 ISIS operatives and their families, women, and children, in a massacre committed by the Coalition’s jets by bombing Al-Baghouz camp on March 21, 2019.
According to SOHR sources, 200 bodies were buried at dawn on that particular day, without information on whether the International Coalition was aware of the presence of children and women from ISIS families inside the camp or not.
However, all these appeals remain unanswered. Therefore, SOHR renews its calls and appeals to all relevant parties to disclose and announce the whole facts and hold accountable those responsible for the massacres and violations over the past five years, during which the Coalition was actively involved in the Syrian crisis.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while providing adequate monitoring of Coalition operations in Syria, stresses once more that it would have been possible to avoid the heavy losses of Syrian civilian lives if the International Coalition had not ignored SOHR’s calls to spare and protect civilians from its military operations, where the presence of Islamic State militants or other jihadist groups in a civilian area does not in any way justify the blank and discriminate bombardment of the area and the loss of civilian lives.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also stresses that the negative impact of Turkish military intervention on civilians could have been avoided, if US Presidents had applied enough pressure on their Turkish counterparts to stop a new humanitarian crisis, displacing thousands and killing and injuring hundreds.
On the other hand, we at SOHR would like to remind the world that the oil and gas resources, controlled by the International Coalition, belong only to the Syrian people. Therefore, all the concerned parties are obliged under international laws and norms to preserve these resources and ensure that they will not be stolen or seized in any way; these resources do not belong to the “regime”, “Iran” or any other party; they belong only to the people of Syria, who have been suffering the brutalities of an ongoing war for over nine years. SOHR also warns of the repercussions of exploiting these sources, seizing them, or depriving the Syrians of their rights to resources.
