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On June 13, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured the villages of Derwish and Amiriyah west of the strategic town of Dashisha near the Syrian-Iraqi border, in the southern al-Hasakah countryside, according to the Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA).
Local sources reported that warplanes of the US-led coalition carried out a series of airstrikes on ISIS positions inside and around Dashisha. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least eleven civilians were killed in these airstrikes.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) media wing announced that the PMU artillery and rocket launchers shelled several positions of ISIS inside Syria. A commander of the PMU claimed that the PMU acted when several units of ISIS approached the Iraqi border. However, it is very possible that the shelling was aimed at supporting the SDF attack on ISIS in Dashisha.
The US-led coalition and the SDF are likely planning to besiege Dashisha in order to isolate it from the Iraqi border before storming ISIS positions inside the town. In such case, the remaining fighters of ISIS in Dashisha may withdraw to the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside.
