RNA - The Kurdish-language Hawar News reported that former ISIL terrorists who had earlier joined the Turkey-affiliated militants in Euphrates Shield operations and sustained frequent defeats in Northern Syria are now fighting against the Kurdish militias in Afrin beside the Turkish army.
The website revealed the names of 30 former ISIL members who have joined the Turkish army, adding that Ismail Faras al-Abar, a military commander of the ISIL in the village of Sabikhan near Deir Ezzur city, who had fled to Turkey, is now the commander of a battalion of militants fighting for Turkey in Operation Olive Branch.
Meantime, Bassel Hamoud al-Yassin al-Sheikhan, a former ISIL security official, and Abdolqader al-Sawij, who is now the deputy commander of Dar'a al-Hasaka brigade, affiliated to the Turkish army are also fighting among the pro-Turkish militias in Operation Olive Branch.
Local sources said on Friday that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) suffered a major setback in Eastern Deir Ezzur, as the ISIL carried out several surprise attacks near the town of Gharanej.
The sources said that the ISIL launched several raids around the towns of Bahra and Gharanej last Thursday, killing and wounding scores of the SDF fighters before they withdrew from the area.
According to the terrorist group’s official media wing, their forces killed more than 20 SDF fighters and captured six more alive near the towns of Bahra and Gharanej.
The ISIL attack came just hours after they conceded the important town of Gharanej to the SDF.
847/940