Suspected ISIS attack kills local party official in east Syria

A local official of the Future Syria Party was killed in an attack by suspected Islamic State (ISIS) gunmen in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province, local media reported on Wednesday.

“The Youth Council of the Future Syria Party announced the martyrdom of Mohammed Hassan al-Samir, the co-chair of the Youth Council of the Future Syria Party in Deir ez-Zor, in an attack by ISIS mercenaries,” said Hawar News Agency (ANHA), affiliated to the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria (Rojava), citing a party statement.

The Future Syria Party was founded in 2018 in northeast Syria (Rojava). It said at the time that it wanted to bring together all ethnic groups and build good ties with neighbors of Rojava, including Turkey.

But a year later, its leader Hevrin Khalaf was assassinated by Ahrar al-Sharqiya, a Turkish-backed militia group sanctioned by the US Treasury and known for various human rights violations and assassinations against Kurds in the country.

ISIS controlled vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014 but was territorially defeated in both countries by 2019. Despite its collapse, the extremist group continues its hit-and-run attacks in areas with security vacuums.

The jihadists frequently attack positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the province, which borders Iraq and houses troops of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition.

Control of Deir ez-Zor province is split between the SDF and the Syrian regime, backed by Iran. It is also home to many of the country’s key oilfields, such as Omar and Conoco, which the global coalition helps the SDF to control.

Source » rudaw