US-led Coalition steps up joint drills with Syria’s SDF
Shafaq News – Hasakah
The US-led Global Coalition has intensified its military drills with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) across multiple bases in Hasakah province, Shafaq News correspondent reported on Saturday.
At the Coalition’s Qasrak base in northern Hasakah, near-daily exercises have been conducted over the past two weeks, involving helicopter maneuvers, drone-targeting simulations, and live-fire training with medium and heavy weapons.
According to our correspondent, the Shaddadi and Kharab Al-Jir bases in southern and eastern Hasakah are also hosting joint sessions, with SDF counterterrorism units participating in several of the exercises.
Meanwhile, an SDF source told Shafaq News that ISIS cells remain active in Syria, particularly in the northeast, and that the joint drills are part of ongoing counterterrorism operations.
ISIS, the source said, is exploiting security gaps and the broader instability that followed the fall of Al-Assad regime, using these conditions to reorganize and expand recruitment.
He warned that camps holding ISIS families and prisons containing thousands of detainees remain critical flashpoints in the northeast, describing them as a potential “ticking time bomb” if security conditions worsen.
Coalition forces continue to reinforce their bases in Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah, with convoys carrying logistical supplies, military equipment, and food entering Syria regularly from the Kurdistan Region.
US Central Command said earlier that it provided advice, assistance, and enabling support for more than 20 operations against ISIS in Syria over the previous month, reducing the group’s ability to launch local attacks or export violence abroad.
