ISIS Claims Attack Which Killed Seven SDF Fighters In Syria's Manbij

A line of US military vehicles drive through a checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces in Manbij. (File photo: AFP)
A line of US military vehicles drive through a checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces in Manbij. (File photo: AFP)
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ISIS Claims Attack Which Killed Seven SDF Fighters In Syria's Manbij

A line of US military vehicles drive through a checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces in Manbij. (File photo: AFP)
A line of US military vehicles drive through a checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces in Manbij. (File photo: AFP)

An attack on a checkpoint of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern Syrian town on Manbij had left seven fighters dead on Tuesday.

Sharfan Darwish of the Manbij Military Council told the Associated Press (AP) that the attack came shortly after midnight at one of the entrances to Manbij, targeting the fighters who "were carrying out their mission of protecting" the town.

Meanwhile, Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said members of an ISIS sleeper cell carried out the attack, and that three other Manbij Military Council fighters were also wounded.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack saying its followers targeted a checkpoint on the western edge of Manbij and confiscated the weapons of the US-backed fighters.

Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said it was also the bloodiest attack in Manbij since January 16, when 19 people, including four US service personnel, were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by ISIS.

The Observatory said hundreds of SDF members had been killed in attacks believed to have been carried out by ISIS sleeper cells since August.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.