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On December 7, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) revealed that clashes with ISIS are still ongoing in the village of Suwaydan on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. 35 fighters of ISIS were killed during the clashes, according to the SDF.
Previously, Kurdish sources claimed that the SDF secured most of the eastern bank of the river including the town of Khara’ij 10km south of Suwaydan. However, it appears that these report were false, and that at least a half of the eastern bank of the Euphrates is still under the ISIS control.
Former spokesman for the SDF Tala Silo said before during an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency that the SDF was pressured to start its attack in Deir Ezzor governorate by the US although that it was not ready. Silo added that SDF suffered from major setbacks and heavy losses during its attack in Deir Ezzor and described the whole attack as a “failure”.
If the SDF didn’t push ISIS out of the Euphrates Valley before the Iraqi Army secure the al-Jazeera region in western Iraq, ISIS fighters might turn the Euphrates Valley into their last stronghold in Syria and conduct counter-attacks from it against the SDF mainly.
