Report: 30 ISIS Fighters Killed in 24 Hours in Eastern Syria

ISIS were slain in YPG attacks around Deir Ezzor

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 30 ISIS fighters were killed in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor Province over the last 24 hours. This was chiefly in fighting with the Kurdish YPG.

The YPG had been sustaining losses recently from ISIS, and is looking to shift momentum back in their favor, with US airstrikes against ISIS targets in an attempt to support them. ISIS holds a handful of towns in northern Deir Ezzor, near the Iraqi border.

ISIS has thousands of fighters left in this area, mostly in the Syrian desert. The towns they hold are remote, and mostly taken in recent months just because no one was bothering to secure them after previously expelling ISIS.

ISIS has since moved back in, and in the past week took parts of the Iraqi border. This led Iraq to send troops across the border into Syria to push ISIS back. Iraq deployed huge numbers of fighters to the border, aiming to prevent ISIS returning to their Anbar Province.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.