Kurdish commander: ISIS no longer able to send terrorists from Syria to the outside world

MESOP : WHO WANTED TO BET AGAINST / GREAT PROMISES

June 18, 2016 –  ARA NEWS – QAMISHLO – Kurdish military official and commander of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council, Shervan Darwish, said that the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group is no longer able to send jihadi fighters from Syria to the outside world.

“The time for ISIS transportation of terrorists to the outside world has come to an end. We have imposed a complete siege on the group’s major border pocket near Turkey. The group cannot cross that border anymore,” Darwish said in an interview with ARA News.

“Also, the roads linking Manbij with Jarablus and Aleppo have been blocked by our (SDF) troops,” the Kurdish commander said.

Darwish pointed out that other roads between Raqqa [capital of the Islamic State] and other Syrian areas have been cut off by the Kurdish-led Syrian democratic Forces (SDF) after heavy clashes.

“ISIS seems paralysed.. no more terrorist convoys and reinforcements for ISIS in Syria. The group is now in a defensive position, desperately trying to keep its positions,” he said.

“We have been working hard to accomplish this. Besieging ISIS in its key territory means protecting the entire world from further transportation of trained terrorists,” he told ARA News.

“Of course the group could still use its sleeper cells to carry out attacks in the West, but those who have been trained for years in the ISIS jihadi camps in Syria are no longer able to carry out their missions abroad. They are now under siege, and soon will be eliminated on the Syrian soil,” the SDF official said.

He added that the US-led coalition has been playing a key role in supporting the SDF factions on the ground:  “The coalition has provided us with military experts and weapons, and it continues to support us through an effective air cover. Our cooperation and collaboration has weakened ISIS,” Darwish said. “We will continue to work together in order to eliminate this mutual enemy, this brutal enemy of humanity.”

Reporting by: Ahmed Shiwesh