After defeating various hardline Islamist militant groups in Deraa and Quneitra, the Syrian Army is set to oust ISIS terrorists from the Sweida Governorate in southern Syria.
Kurdish forces are willing and ready to assist government forces in their Sweida anti-Daesh campaign, the Firat news agency reported on Sunday, citing a YPG commander.
In an interview, Commander General Sipan Hemo said the YPG has repeatedly demonstrated its competence in battling and defeating Daesh terrorists in many parts of Syria.
“[The] YPG has proved its success in the fight against ISIS [Daesh in Arabic] and terrorist organizations. The YPG forces under the roof of SDF have liberated one third of the country from ISIS,” the senior YPG officer said.
Syrian Army troops and allied local militiamen were enraged by a string of Daesh terrorist attacks which targeted Sweida’s Druze community last month, killing some 200 civilians. Dozens of young girls were also abducted by the terrorists and are yet to be released.
Commander General Hemo likened the assault on Sweida, which he described as a “savage act,” to Daesh’s campaign against Kobane a few years ago, expressing the Kurds’ solidarity with the people of Sweida.
In addition to mobilizing forces in Sweida, the Syrian Army has also been deploying troops and military assets to northeastern Syria, with offensives in Idlib and north Latakia widely expected to be launched in the next few weeks.
Last month, a Kurdish official said the SDF would be willing to fight alongside government forces in Idlib, as most of the groups occupying the province are backed by Ankara, which has commissioned several cross-border operations against Kurdish forces in both Syria and Iraq.