Kurdish fighters launch offensive mission against Islamic State in Syria

Syrian Kurdish-led forces launched an all-out attack against Islamic State fighters after the militant group tried to rescue some of its members from a prison in Raqa. According to AFP, the IS attacked the prison complex on Monday and the fight between the two groups resulted in the death of six Kurdish fighters. According to the official statement, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces called the offensive "Operation al-Jazeera Thunderbolt" and said that the main aim behind it is to "eliminate" IS gunmen from the region which hasturned into "the source of the recent terrorist attacks".

The SDF has received support from the United States-backed coalition in this mission. Since the attack on the prison in Raqa, the IS fighters have carried out eight other attacks in the northern Syrian regions of Deir Ezzor, Hasakeh and the Al-Hol camp for displaced people.

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The IS fighters have been gaining power in the region since 2014 and the SDF said that the recent attacks are being fuelled by the recent Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish establishments in Syria.

The US has been supporting the Kurdish forces in their fight against IS since 2019 and since that time, the number of clashes between the two sides have gone up considerably.

Earlier, the Islamic State took full responsibility for the attack on the prison complex in Raqa and said that it wanted to avenge “Muslim prisoners” and female relatives of jihadists living in Al-Hol camp.

Al-Hol has been a controversial region recently with Kurdish fighters detaining over 200 people.