Click to see full-size image. Source: sdf-press.com
On December 23, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that its special forces dismantled a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) that was uncovered in the town of al-Dashisha in the southeastern countryside of al-Hasakah a day earlier.
In a statement, the US-backed group said that the VBIED was prepared by a cell of ISIS that wanted to use it to carry out a terrorist attack inside al-Hasakah city.
“Our units were able to thwart many terrorist plots of ISIS mercenaries in al-Hasakah, Abu Khashab [in the northern Deir Ezzor countryside] and Raqqa in the past few days, after pursuing and tracking of many terrorist cells,” the statement reads.
In November, the SDF and the US-led coalition neutralized during a joint operation in Aby Khashab a cell of ISIS that was plotting to storm a prison in al-Hasakah city. In the course of the operation, a VBIED that was prepared especially for the terrorist plot was destroyed.
Despite these recent successes, ISIS cells in northeastern Syria appear to be intensifying their operations and plotting larger and more complex terrorist attacks.
The SDF and the US-led coalition efforts to counter ISIS seem to be insufficient as the terrorist group’s influence in the northeastern region is still growing.