Rabat – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday morning that ISIS waged a counterattack in eastern Syria, killing at least 30 individuals.
The NGO added that about 10 ISIS fighters also died. The NGO also expects the death toll to rise because some fighters are critically injured.
“Using kamikazes, the ISIS launched deadly counter-attacks against SDF on three axes, especially in the villages of Soussa and al-Chafaa,” according to the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahmane.
The counterattack followed an arrest operation conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday.
The clashes between and ISIS members comes amid Trump’s announcement that US troops will withdraw after the alleged ISIS defeat in Syria.
The terrorist group was planning to “attack the civilians who were trying to get out of the war zone in masses.”
The SDF arrested suspects originally from the US, Ireland, and Pakistan.
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In December 2018, Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, a conflict zone since 2011. The conflict has resulted in more than 360,000 deaths and millions of refugees.
“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Trump wrote on his Twitter.
Trump received backlash from security officials, including Pentagon Chief of Staff KevinSweeney and defence secretary James Mattis, who both announced their resignation after the US exit from Syria.
Pentagon officials argued that the move betrayed Kurdish allies. They also emphasized that abandoning Kurdish allies could inhibit future efforts to regain the trust of local fighters, such as those in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen.
On Sunday, Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters in Israel that US troops would not leave Syria until they completely end terror threats in the conflict zone.
While Trump believes that the US and its allies defeated ISIS in Syria, the Moroccan government said that ISIS still poses a threat to every country.
Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) head, Abdelhak Khiame, said, “No one should say that the ISIS threat has ended.”
He added that the war against ISIS will take a long time.
