Syrian Kurdish forces retake strategic city from Daesh

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces has managed to seize the strategic city of Shaddadah in the Syrian northeastern province of Hasakah from the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — a coalition of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, and Turkmen fighters, backed by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — established their full control on the city on Friday. Shaddadah is considered as one of the most important strongholds of Daesh in the province.

An unnamed military source in SDF confirmed the reports to Sputnik, saying that the allied forces defeated Daesh in Shaddadah and “took control of the town.” “We struck from several directions. The terrorists did not expect our attack.”

SDF spokesman Talal Sillo told ARA News that their fighters captured the town of Shaddadah after the sunset on Friday. “More than 50 Daesh militant fighters were killed in Friday battle for Shaddadah,” he added.

The liberating forces then engaged in mopping up operations outside the city, and managed to liberate at least seven more sites and villages from Daesh.

The Kurdish-dominated forces launched their offensive against Takfiris late on Tuesday and have been engaged in heavy clashes with militants since then. In the past few days, they retook an oilfield from Daesh and took over two strategic roads: the main road connecting Shaddadah to Daesh-held city of Mosul in Iraq and another road connecting it to Syria’s northern city of Raqqah, the Takfiris’ de facto capital.

Having lost these two supply routes, the Takfiris in the area were forced to retreat towards Dayr al-Zawr province, which is mostly in their control. During the past few days, members and leaders of Daesh had moved their families from Shaddadah to areas in Dayr al-Zawr province.