ANF Photo
2018-06-12
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SULAIMANI — The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the liberation of 12 villages and 15 hamlets in its offensive against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in northeastern Syria over the last week.
The US-backed group launched an offensive to clear the Dashisha area in southeast of Syria’s province of Hasakah from ISIS militants last week.
“Our forces entered the first week of the campaign to liberate Al-Dashisha town in Al-Hasaka countryside with field progress on both the eastern and western fighting axes,” SDF said in a statement on Monday (June 11).
The group’s fighters, backed by the US-led Coalition forces, advanced nine kilometers on the eastern axis and 13 km on the western side, the statement read.
Villages liberated by the SDF were Hamidya, Sufian, Mazar, Al-Khubayra, Hijla, Shamas, Husayn al-Hijla, Al-Hasu, Oudat, Kulib, Morjan, and Um Al-Mahfour, the group added.
The US-backed group said hundreds of civilians who were stranded in the villages had been evacuated and removed from the areas of clashes.
“These villages were full of mines and booby traps, dismantled by military engineering units, and our forces discovered five tunnels that have been militarily isolated.”
A number of ISIS militants were also captured, SDF said.
The SDF, an alliance dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes and special forces, has been fighting to defeat ISIS militants in Syria.
(NRT)