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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| ISIS cling to last redoubt in face of US-backed Syria force | |
| 2019-03-14 | |
| [Rudaw] BAGHOUZ, Syria - 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 Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group fighters launched suicide kabooms Wednesday at US-backed Syrian forces in a desperate bid to defend their last scrap of territory after 3,000 of their fellow jihadists surrendered. Despite the counterpunch the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said ISIS is living its "final moments" after three nights of thunderous shelling on its final holdout in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. AFP correspondents heard air strikes and artillery fire near the frontline after night fall Wednesday, on a fourth night of bombardment. Supported by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the SDF resumed shelling on Sunday. They unleashed a deluge of fire on jihadist outposts for three nights in a row, engulfing their makeshift encampment in a ravaging blaze. "ISIS's final moments have started," SDF official Jiaker Amed told AFP Wednesday. Clashes flared as the SDF worked to thwart any ISIS fightback. Jihadists "launched two counterattacks today -- one in the morning and another in the afternoon," an SDF official told AFP. "The second one was much stronger" and was launched under the cover of smoke caused by bombing, he said. The official said jihadists were using jacket wallahs but his force intercepted them before they reached their target. The jihadists "made no progress and they were stopped," he said. - 'FINAL HOUR' - Inside Baghouz, the crackle and thud of gunfire and shelling rang out from the encampment as plumes of thick black smoke rose over the bombed-out ISIS bastion. Amid the rubble, three SDF fighters lobbed a salvo of mortar shells towards the ISIS pocket, hours after the first attempted counterattack at daybreak under the cover of a dust storm. On a rooftop near the front line, an AFP correspondent saw a warplane fire two missiles at ISIS positions. Delil, an SDF fighter, said: "Today, the sandstorm is to their benefit but all coming days are ours." Outside the village, dozens of evacuees sat in clusters on a field dotted with yellow flowers, a day after thousands of the last survivors of the "caliphate" handed themselves over to US-backed forces. After a night of heavy bombardment on Tuesday, SDF front man Mustafa Bali said about 3,000 jihadists had handed themselves over to the SDF in the past 24 hours. "The battle is ongoing and the final hour is now closer than ever," he said on Twitter. But an SDF official said on Wednesday that "it appears as though many fighters remain inside" the last pocket. Near the front line on Tuesday night, AFP correspondents saw bright, long streaks of light in the night sky as US-backed forces bombed jihadist outposts. Explosions shook the ISIS pocket as large fires tore through a cluster of tents and buildings. - 'NO FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT' - Coalition front man Sean Ryan on Wednesday said ISIS has no room to manoeuvre. "There is no freedom of movement at night for the enemy," he told AFP. "Combined with the SDF ground movement against the final enclave, progress is being made and their capabilities are being severely destroyed." Since December, about 60,000 people have left the last ISIS redoubt, according to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, around a tenth of them suspected jihadists.
Clashes were underway as the Kurdish-led forces tried to repel the IS attack, he said, adding they were also fighting to secure an area taken late on Tuesday. Another commander said at least four SDF fighters were killed in the fighting since early in the morning. Both commanders spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. A third commander, Dilbrin Nargiz, said the IS counterattack began just before dawn. IS faceless myrmidons usually operate in daylight as they lack night vision weapons and goggles. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |