Illustrative image, source: sdf-press.com
On December 16, clashes renewed in Hajin in the middle Euphrates River Valley when ISIS launched another counter-attack on the newly-established positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) inside the town. The US-backed group said that its fighters had repelled the attack, despite suffering from some minor loses.
“The terrorists attacked the front positions of our forces, our fighters repelled them … following this, the terrorists began shelling from a far distance, they targeted the positions of our forces with mortars and artillery shells,” the SDF media center said in its daily press release.
According to the media center, US-led coalition warplanes conducted 50 airstrikes on ISIS positions and vehicles in the Euphrates Valley in order to support SDF forces. Local sources said that one of the airstrikes on the village of Bukhatir, in Hajin’s countryside, killed more than 17 civilians including women and children.
The SDF didn’t commented on the reports of this new massacre. However, the US-backed group said that 71 fighters and commanders of ISIS were killed in the Euphrates Valley in the last 24 hours.
A day earlier, SDF fighters expanded their control inside Hajin and captured 35 new positions. Despite the steady advance of the US-backed group, ISIS is still determined to hold into its few remaining positions in the southern part of the strategic town.
