Kurdish YPG fighters repel ISIS attack on Syrian gas facility
Clashes broke out between the YPG and ISIS after the latter attacked the Jibisa gas facility near Shaddadi.
“ISIS jihadists attacked a YPG checkpoint in Jibisa with mortar shells. The Kurdish fighters responded by bombing ISIS positions near Margada–south of Shaddadi,” YPG officer Habun Osman told ARA News.
After nearly three hours of clashes, the YPG forced ISIS militants to withdraw towards their stronghold of Margada town.
Margada is the Islamic State’s last stronghold in Hasakah Governorate. It is located on the administrative border between Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor Governorates.
In February, 2016, ISIS was driven out of Shaddadi city in southern Hasakah. The advance came after the YPG and allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) cut off a main ISIS supply route –known as al-Hawl– through Syria’s northeastern border with Iraq.
Also in February, the US-backed SDF seized control of the Islamic State’s main financial resource in Hasakah Governorate, the Jibisa gas facility. This petrochemical plant used to feed massive power stations in Syria’s central governorates.
ISIS had been in control of the Jibisa gas facility for nearly two years, retrofitting it to produce portable gas cylinders which were then sold on the black market. Analysts told ARA News that at its peak, ISIS was producing 5,000 cylinders per day at Jibisa.
Reporting by: Helin Saeed | Source: ARA News
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