US Army Continues Heliborne Operation to Take ISIL Commanders Away from Deir Ezzur

Rasa - Military helicopters of the US-led coalition carried out another heliborne operation in Southeastern Deir Ezzur to evacuate senior commanders of the ISIL terrorist group from the region, local sources said on Tuesday.

News ID: 434657

Date: 07 November 2017 - 22:47

RNA - The sources confirmed that US helicopters transferred several ISIL commanders from the town of al-Mayadeen before the launch of the Syrian army operation.

"American military aviation first maneuvered near a farm in al-Mayadeen region. Then (the aviation) launched an airstrike, we tried to hide and saw several US helicopters. There were foreign ISIL commanders on the ground, who were waiting for them next to their headquarters… The helicopters took them out of Mayadeen," Muhammad Awad Hussein, a local shepherd, said.

He further said that "… first there was the sound of a blast followed by a massive strike; later the US helicopters came and took the ISIL leaders after which the airstrikes ceased."

A high-ranking Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) official said on Monday that the US continued to supply them with arms and delivered 120 trucks loaded with heavy armament and armored vehicles for the Deir Ezzur operation.

"The US has supplied us with Hummer armored vehicles and heavy armament for the Deir Ezzur operation, including missiles, infra-red guidance missiles, machine guns, mine throwers, Kalashnikov assault rifles and other ammunition," the SDF source told Sputnik Turkiye on condition of anonymity.

According to the high-ranking official, the armaments and vehicles have been brought from the territory of Northern Iraq through the Semelka checkpoint into Rojava, the territory where the Syrian Kurds live. From there, the trucks with weaponry left for the territories which have been cleaned from ISIL to the North of Deir Ezzur.

The total number of trucks amounted to 120; the source, however said that they need more.

"We are advancing, our forces need to operate in the areas of combat and we do need armored vehicles. We have lost many fighters who were killed in mortar shelling by ISIL terrorists because they did not have armor protection," he explained.

He further elaborated that ISIL terrorists use sniper rifles and mine throwers. If SDF fighters had enough of armored vehicles and heavy weaponry, there would have been a lot less victims. However the US officers are there on the ground and have a chance to assess the situation themselves. They promised to meet the demands of SDF in additional armaments, he concluded.

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