US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria announced on Friday a fresh campaign to hunt down remnants of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) near the Iraqi border. The development follows a recent uptick in attacks.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led paramilitary alliance has spearheaded the ground fight against IS in Syria since 2015. The SDF says that the new campaign is being carried out in coordination with the Iraqi army and the US-led coalition to target IS’s “hideouts and hotbeds.”

The operations will focus on the vast east Syria desert near the border with Iraq where IS has conducted a spate of attacks in recent months, AFP reported.

Since the loss of its last territory in Syria in March 2019, IS attacks have been restricted to the vast desert that stretches from the heavily populated Orontes valley in the west all the way to Iraqi border.

Source: RT