ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced Wednesday that it had carried out 163 operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2025, leading to the arrest of 140 "ISIS elements," and the death of 13 others, including three leaders.

The Kurdish-led force released a statistical breakdown of its campaigns against the widely terrorist-designated group in 2025 on the last day of the year, which amounted to 163, of which 128 were hideout raids and searches, while direct clashes accounted for 32 operations. There were also three large-scale combing operations.

The force, operating as the de facto army of northeast Syria (Rojava), reaffirmed that the operations confirm that the Jihadist group, "despite its diminished capabilities, remains a persistent threat and seeks to exploit any security vacuum or state of chaos to destabilize the region."

SDF said that 140 "ISIS elements" were arrested as part of the operations, while 13 elements were killed, including three leaders.

According to the statement, 70 percent of the operations were conducted in rural areas, while 20 percent were carried out in cities and towns, and the remaining 10 percent on "vital roads."

In addition to constant raids and searches to keep the jihadist group at bay, the SDF is in charge of some of the most notorious camps holding ISIS and other extremist elements, with the most infamous one among them being the al-Hol camp.

Al-Hol camp in Hasaka province houses tens of thousands of ISIS-affiliated people. It has been branded as a “ticking time bomb” by Kurdish and Iraqi authorities, with both regional and international communities routinely expressing concern over its danger. 

"Furthermore, our forces are single-handedly shouldering an unprecedented security burden in protecting ISIS camps and prisons, preventing the resurgence of terrorism and addressing a serious breach in regional and international security," the group noted, underlining the "crucial" role of the US-led international coalition in the fight against terrorism. 

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.

Since their territorial defeat, the group has mainly resorted to hit-and-run attacks.

Earlier in December, the SDF thwarted an attack by ISIS militants on one of their checkpoints in Deir ez-Zor, killing a militant and seriously wounding another, according to a statement from the Kurdish-led force.