SDF on outskirts of al-Sousa, al-Shafa, besieging ISIS

AHMAD SAMIR- ODAY AL-AHMAD / DEIR EZ-ZOR

Al-Jazeera Tempest campaign continues in its final stage, "Battle to defeat terrorism" led by Syrian Democratic Forces to liberate the last stronghold of IS mercenaries east of the Euphrates River, most notably the strategic Hajin town

SDF fighters have progressed on Friday and managed to reach the outskirts of al-Sousa and al-Shafa towns, while the militants have imposed a suffocating siege on the strongholds of the mercenaries in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, all of it became under the range of SDF fire.

As fighting continues between SDF fighters and ISIS on the outskirts of the two towns, where the atmosphere is rising fumes from the places controlled by ISIS,  that they resort to burning crude oil to create an air cover of black fumes, in order to avoid strikes by international alliance aircraft participating in the battle .

SDF fighters are 22 km away from Hajin town, which is the strategic and last stronghold of IS mercenaries east of the Euphrates River. According to the fighters, the number of foreign mercenaries in the last stronghold exceeds the number of local mercenaries and they have prepared themselves well for this last war.

Sief Mergada a fighter of SDF said "The mercenaries dug many tunnels in their last areas, and they also booby-trapped the houses of civilians before they fled and destroyed them. By doing so, they are harming civilians, to the extent they have booby-trapped the animals, tree and everything does not occur to the human mind. "

He continued "Hajin is also besieged from the direction of al-Bahra by our forces. Here we can say that we have besieged them, so they resort to suicide bombings and suicide attacks against us in light of the collapses in their ranks."

"Our morale is high and excellent, our progress continues on a daily basis, we have failed several attack attempts by IS mercenaries against us by confronting them and defeating them," he said.

He stressed that the engineering units are working in mine clearance and dismantling the mines planted by the mercenaries on the roads and on their sides in particular. The teams secure the houses of civilians from mines, to facilitate the return of the people if they return after defeating IS mercenaries.

H/S

ANHA