Clashes intensified between the US-backed forces and Daesh (ISIS) in eastern Deir Ezzor province as the Kurdish-led fighters press to uproot the militants from their last pockets near the Iraqi border, local activists said according to zamanalwsl.net.
The fighting took place in the village of al-Safafneh near the strategic Bagouz area, key Daesh stronghold in the eastern bank of Euphrates River.
The SDF seized control of al-Shajlah village last week and half of the village of Bagouz.
The Kurdish-led forces have been among the most effective in the fight against Daesh in Syria, forcing them out of much of the country’s east.
At least 16 SDF fighters were killed in Daesh attacks on their checkpoints in eastern Deir Ezzor province in two weeks. In its turn, the SDF has killed at least 40 Daesh militants.
Despite losing most of the territory it held between Iraq and Syria since its peak in 2014, Daesh remains a disruptive force in both countries. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, urged his followers to “persevere” in an audiotape attributed to him last month.
Daesh territory came also under missile attack by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Monday who struck its headquarters in retaliation for an attack that killed 24 people in the Iranian city of Ahvaz.
The Guards released pictures of what appeared to be missiles lighting up the night sky, leaving trails of smoke as they soared above a desert region with a rugged mountain in the background.
The missiles hit the desert border town of Albu Kamal on the west of the Euphrates River, east of Deir Ezzor.
