ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday announced five of its fighters were killed while thwarting an attack by alleged Islamic State (ISIS) militants in eastern Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, with another fighter wounded in the clash.

According to a statement released by the Kurdish-led forces, a suspected ISIS cell launched an attack on an SDF military base situated in the town of al-Bahra al-Wusta, east of Deir ez-Zor, resulting in the deaths of five of their members and the injury of another during efforts to repel the offensive.

The statement noted that the SDF managed to thwart the attack “and impose control on the ground,” adding that the forces continue to conduct operations to eliminate ISIS remnants in the area.

The incident comes amid a surge in ISIS attacks in northeast Syria since Bashar al-Assad’s fall, with the militant group seeking to exploit the instability in the region. The group primarily operates in the remote desert areas of Homs and Deir ez-Zor provinces.

SDF spokesperson Abjar Dawood on Monday stated that ISIS militants have carried out more than 150 attacks in northeast Syria since the fall of Assad’s regime in December 2024.

ISIS took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014, declaring its so-called caliphate with the Iraqi city of Mosul as its capital. They were territorially defeated with assistance from the US-led coalition forces in Syria in 2019.

The US-backed SDF functions as the de facto army of northeast Syria and currently controls one-third of the country’s overall territory.