(Zaman Al Wasl)- US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Saturday have seized the town of Tal al-Shayer from Daesh in the northeastern province of Hasaka, activists said.
The next step for the SDF after Tal Shayer is the town of al-Dshaisha, according to activist Mohamed al-Kheder.
Last Tuesday, a US-led coalition airstrike on Tal al-Shayer killed at least 19 civilians, mostly family members, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Tal al-Shayer lies in a small pocket still held by Daesh fighters near the Iraqi border in the south of Hasaka.
Backed by the US and French artillery, the SDF launched two weeks ago major offensive on last ISIS pockets near the Iraqi border.
The YPG-led alliance has seized control of seven villages in the southern countryside of Hasaka last week.
Earlier this month, the coalition admitted to nine more civilians’ deaths, bringing to 892 the total number of civilians it acknowledges to have killed since it intervened in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Monitors like the Observatory and Airwars as well as rights groups say the toll is much higher.
ISIS has lost most of its territory since it declared a caliphate and seized large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Daesh has resorted to guerrilla tactics since it abandoned its goal of holding territory and creating a self-sufficient caliphate that straddles Iraq and Syria.
More than 400,000 people have been killed since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, mostly at the regime's hands. (Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies)
Zaman Al Wasl
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