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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Islamic State Holding on to Hajin |
| 2018-11-22 |
| [JamestownFoundation] Islamic State (IS) has seen a significant decline in the past year, with its territory and operations significantly reduced to small pockets in Syria and Iraq. The group, however, is still holding strong to portions of Syria just east of the Euphrates. In fact, the group has managed to recapture some of its key territory in eastern Syria over the past several weeks. On September 10, the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) launched a major offensive against the group in the Hajin area of eastern Syria—one of IS’s last remaining and strongest holdouts—but has since lost any of the momentum it had gained. IS has reportedly capitalized recently on multiple sandstorms and their knowledge of the terrain to launch major counteroffensives against the SDF, effectively recapturing all of the territory in Hajin that the SDF had cleared since the operation began in September. According to some estimates, IS killed as many as 68 SDF members in the past week while around 100 others have fled. The Hajin area is one of the group’s last major strongholds and it is seemingly going to be more difficult than expected to prevent IS from regaining ground in the surrounding areas—let alone to liberate Hajin. By some estimates, IS still has thousands of fighters in the area and has constructed a network of tunnels to evade detection by aircraft and escape the offensive while simultaneously conducting suicide attacks against the SDF and allied forces |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #1 On the banks of the lovely Euphrates, what's not there to love and hold on to? |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2018-11-22 09:08 |