US scrambles to quell ISIS resurgence in Syria after fall of Assad

The US’ key anti-ISIS partners in Syria said on Wednesday that the ISIS detention facilities they guard are coming under attack and that they have been forced to halt anti-ISIS operations, complicating the US military’s efforts to prevent the terror group from reconstituting following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The US’ key anti-ISIS partners in Syria said on Wednesday that the ISIS detention facilities they guard are coming under attack and that they have been forced to halt anti-ISIS operations, complicating the US military’s efforts to prevent the terror group from reconstituting following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. US officials have been scrambling to ensure that the terrorists can’t regroup in Syria and have carried out dozens of airstrikes on ISIS targets in recent days, as dozens of competing factions, including some backed by Turkey, now vie for control in different parts of the country. But the US’ most important partner there, the SDF, has come under relentless attack by Turkish-backed militants in recent days, raising concerns among US officials and experts about the security of the more than 20 detention facilities and camps holding suspected ISIS members and their families in northern Syria. The SDF is largely made up of Kurdish fighters from a group known as the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), which is considered a terrorist organization by neighboring Turkey. The SDF’s top commander in Syria, General Mazloum Abdi, told CNN on Wednesday that the SDF has had to begin relocating ISIS detainees because the prisons have been threatened. “With the increasing threats that faced the city of Manbij, we relocated ISIS detainees from the prisons there to other, more secure detention facilities,” Abdi said.