Syrian Kurdish forces say ISIS attack killed five of its members

Five members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been killed in an attack by ISIS militants in the east of the country, according to the Kurdish-led group.

ISIS, once in control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria, were territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by the SDF with support from an international coalition. But they have maintained cells that have launched attacks mostly on Kurdish-controlled areas.

The SDF is the de facto army of the Kurdish administration in north-east Syria.

“While our fighters confronted an ISIS terrorist network that targeted a position of our forces in the town of Al Bahra Al Wusta, east of Deir Ezzor, this morning, five of our comrades were martyred, and another fighter was wounded in violent clashes that took place during thwarting the attack,” the SDF said in a statement on X on Thursday.

The SDF said its fighters thwarted a larger attack that the jihadists had attempted to carry out, adding that its forces were conducting operations to “pursue the terrorist elements and eliminate them in the area”.

More than six years after the group's defeat in the country, Kurdish-run camps and prisons in Syria's semi-autonomous north-east hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to ISIS.

Last week, the US Central Comment said that a senior ISIS member was killed during a raid by American forces in Syria.

Iraq’s counterterrorism agency said it helped locate the militant, who was identified as Omar Abdul-Qader, also known by his nom de guerre Abdul-Rahman Al Halabi. He was head of the extremist group’s external operations and security, it said.