The SDF announces stop its operations against ISIS

The commander of the US-backed Syria Democratic Forces announced the cessation of their operations against ISIS, after the Turkish attacks on northern Syria last week.

The commander of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, said that after about a week of Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria, Ankara is now ready to launch a ground incursion, and the Turkish-backed opposition fighters in Syria are preparing to participate in the operations.

The Turkish strikes last week caused severe damage to the region’s infrastructure.

Abdi stated that Türkiye is taking the bloody bombing that took place on November 13 in Istanbul, which Ankara blames on Kurdish groups, as a pretext for launching the attacks, and the Kurdish organizations denied any involvement in the Istanbul attack, which killed six people and injured dozens.

Last week, Türkiye launched air strikes against the Kurds in Syria and Iraq in response to the Istanbul attack.

Abdi said, “The forces working… with the international coalition to fight ISIS have now become a target of the Turkish state, and therefore military operations against ISIS have stopped”.

His remarks came hours after the US military announced that two missiles targeted the Washington-led coalition forces at bases in Al Shaddadi, northeastern Syria, without causing casualties or damage to the base or coalition property.

The US military statement added that the SDF fighters visited the missile launch site and found a third missile that was not launched.

The opposition-affiliated Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain blamed ISIS sleeper cells for the Friday night attack on the US base.

“Attacks of this kind endanger coalition forces and the civilian population, and undermine hard-won stability and security in Syria and the region,” said Joe Buccino, a spokesman for the US Central Command.

The SDF stated in a statement before midnight on Friday, that while Turkish drones flew over the Al Hol camp, which is inhabited by tens of thousands of wives, widows, and children of ISIS fighters, some members of ISIS families attacked the security forces and managed to flee from the sprawling facility, and it didn’t mention the number of those fleeing. who were later arrested.

The Kurds run more than twenty detention centers in northeastern Syria, which hold about 10,000 ISIS fighters, including about 2,000 foreigners whose countries of origin refused to return them, including about 800 Europeans.