7 Fighters from Kurdish-led Force Killed in Syria ISIS Attacks

Kurdish-led fighters deploy around Ghwayran prison after its recapture from ISIS militant group in six days of deadly fighting in northeastern Syria's largest city, Hasakeh - AFP
Kurdish-led fighters deploy around Ghwayran prison after its recapture from ISIS militant group in six days of deadly fighting in northeastern Syria's largest city, Hasakeh - AFP
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7 Fighters from Kurdish-led Force Killed in Syria ISIS Attacks

Kurdish-led fighters deploy around Ghwayran prison after its recapture from ISIS militant group in six days of deadly fighting in northeastern Syria's largest city, Hasakeh - AFP
Kurdish-led fighters deploy around Ghwayran prison after its recapture from ISIS militant group in six days of deadly fighting in northeastern Syria's largest city, Hasakeh - AFP

At least seven fighters from a Kurdish-led force were killed Sunday in two ISIS group attacks in eastern Syria, a war monitor said.

"Six fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed" in an ISIS attack along the road linking Deir Ezzor province with Hasakeh, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human rights.

A seventh was shot dead by ISIS-linked gunmen in the west of Deir Ezzor province, the Observatory said.

The attacks were carried out in areas under the control of the SDF, which is a key US partner in fighting ISIS and is the Syrian Kurds' de facto army, AFP said.

ISIS seized swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" to administer the millions-strong population.

A long and bloody fightback by Syrian and Iraqi forces with backing from the US and other powers led to its eventual defeat in March 2019, but sleeper cells of the extremist group still carry out attacks in both countries.

On Thursday, the SDF said two of their fighters were killed and six ISIS fighters arrested following clashes in a volatile Syria camp where a security operation was underway.

Syria's war began in 2011 and has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes.



Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.