US Sends 120 Trucks with Arms to SDF

"The US has supplied us with Hummer armored vehicles and heavy armament for the Deir ez-Zor operation, including missiles, infra-red guidance missiles, machine guns, mine throwers, Kalashnikov rifles and other ammunition," the SDF source told Sputnik Turkiye on condition of anonymity.

According to the high-ranking official, the armaments and vehicles have been brought from the territory of Northern Iraq through the Semelka checkpoint into Rojava, the territory where the Syrian Kurds live. From there, the trucks with weaponry left for the territories which have been cleaned from Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) to the north of Deir ez-Zor.

The total number of trucks amounted to 120, the source said, noting that they need more.

"We are advancing, our forces need to operate in the combat areas and we do need armored vehicles. We have lost many fighters who were killed in mortar shelling by Daesh terrorists because they did not have armor protection," he explained.

He further elaborated that Daesh militants use sniper rifles and mine throwers. If SDF fighters had enough of armored vehicles and heavy weaponry, there would have been a lot less victims. However, the US officers are there on the ground and have a chance to assess the situation themselves. They promised to meet the demands of SDF in additional armaments, he concluded.

US is supporting SDF without the Syrian government permission. Syria has on different occasions protested the move by Washington. Damascus has called for exit of all foreign forces entered the country illegally.

The Syrian army said on Friday it had seized Deir ez-Zor from Daesh, driving the foreign-backed militants from their last major stronghold in the war-hit country.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.