The SOHR reported that they were Syrian members of the terrorist group who came "from Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah countryside. These members returned to the villages from which they came. After they were arrested, they were questioned for weeks. Members of the organization intended to surrender to the SDF in the contact areas held between them. The last of which was the surrender of more than 40 members of ISIS to the forces of the "Al-Jazeera Storm" Operation, in late 2017, during the violent fighting which took place in the east of the Euphrates River, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, where they were carried by vehicles of the SDF towards areas in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The vehicles were watched as they carried them towards Al-Hasakah province through the north of Deir Ezzor."
"The SOHR monitored that more than 120 members have joined the SDF. Most of them are people of clans that include commanders in the SDF in Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah countryside. Residents expressed their fears that the members of the organization have surrendered as a preliminary step to form sleeper cells in the SDF-held areas," the report continued.
This is an unsurprising development as it is known the SDF face a chronic man-shortage and it has been observed that they force men to join the militia.
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