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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
SDF resume offensive against ISIS in Baghouz, US Coalition airstrikes ISIS ammo dump
2019-03-11
[Rudaw] The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have resumed their final offensive against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) holy warriors corralled into a tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River, the last corner of territory controlled by the group.

"Airplanes have targeted weapons depots of terrorists," SDF media officer Mustafa Bali announced on Twitter Sunday evening. There is "direct fierce fighting on the outskirts of the camp."

The offensive began at 6pm local time, he said. Two hours earlier, he had warned ISIS that time was up.

"The timeline that we [gave to] ISIS to surrender themselves is over," he had tweeted. "Our force is now ready to start and finish what is left in ISIS hands."

What remains of the so-called ISIS caliphate is a 500 square metre scrap of land covered in makeshift tents near the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, a few kilometres from the border with Iraq. The holy warriors are besieged with Kurdish-led SDF on three sides and on the fourth the Euphrates River with regime forces beyond.

Tens of thousands of civilians ‐ including Yezidis and others who had been held captive by the jihadists for years ‐ and ISIS family members have evacuated the Baghouz area, nearly 20,000 in the past two and a half weeks alone. Hundreds of ISIS fighters have also surrendered.

But the number of people prepared to leave tent city before it becomes a battle zone has dwindled.

On Saturday, "only about 100 people left, including three Chinese Uighurs and three Moroccan women," Bali told AFP earlier in the day.

The SDF had paused operations and opened up an escape corridor to allow the civilians to get to safety. The force does not know how many fighters remain.

"Actually we don’t know how many ISIS fighters are in Baghouz, but we do know that the remaining ones are those who really want to fight. They are those who have come from abroad such as Europe, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor....
, Iraq and Asia," SDF spokesperson Adnan Afrin told Rudaw TV Saturday evening, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Also known as cannon fodder...
The SDF is backed by jets of the US-led coalition.

Afrin estimated that the holy warriors remaining are "not few."

Though the area of territory is small, it is difficult to estimate how many people are in the tent camp because the group is using tunnels.
A three minute long video filmed watching the camp before the offensive restarted can be seen here. English subtitles and stirring music available gratis.
The Times of Israel adds:
Around sunset, sniper fire was seen coming from IS positions, as the SDF pounded the area held by the extremists. An SDF commander who identified himself as Bilal said Sunday’s fighting “was the heaviest clashes he’d seen since then.”

The fighting came a day after an SDF official said they could soon resume the offensive against IS, adding that the battle could last three days. SDF official Aras Orkesh said on Saturday that about 2,500 fighters are ready for the battle in and around the eastern village of Baghouz, where IS fighters still have a presence.
And these happy details from Al Masdar:
ISIS was given until noon on Saturday to surrender their last positions, but the terrorist group refused to give up their small enclave in the Baghouz area of Deir Ezzor.

In response to the Islamic State’s obstinacy in surrendering their last positions, the U.S. Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have resumed their assault against the terrorist group.

According to reports from the Deir Ezzor front, the U.S. Coalition has already conducted a number of Arclight airstrikes over the Baghouz Camp, resulting in several powerful kabooms that could be heard throughout the eastern region of the Euphrates.

Perhaps the most powerful kaboom reported from this front occurred this evening when the U.S. Coalition struck a weapons depot belonging to the Islamic State.

Intense firefights between the Islamic State and Syrian Democratic Forces are now ongoing at the Baghouz Camp axis, with heavy artillery and airstrikes still being provided by the U.S. Coalition.
Everyone has something to say. Herewith from Deutsche Welle:
It is still not known how many fighters, or civilians, are still in Baghouz. Some estimates suggest 500 fighters and up to 4,000 women and children could still be there.

Despite the assault on Baghouz, IS maintains a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert and has claimed a series of deadly attacks in SDF-held territory.

German-national IS fighters have a fundamental right to return to Germany, a spokesman for the interior ministry said last month. An estimated 1,050 German nationals have traveled to Syria and Iraq since 2013. About a third have already returned to Germany, according to authorities.
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