On Monday afternoon, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) – backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) –captured the village of Rafraf after fierce clashes with the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) in this rural area west of the provincial capital in the Al-Hasakah Governorate.
According to a military source, the SAA and NDF have been combatting the ISIS militants in this area for the last 2 weeks; they were finally able to break the stalemate following the arrival of reinforcements from local militias. The source further added that the SAA and NDF contingents killed at least 2 dozen ISIS militants before the latter withdrew from Rafraf.