US-backed Syrian forces smash Daesh defenses in east
defenses of the Daesh group after massing a large number of fighters backed by the international coalition,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“They achieved quick progress inside Hajjin, the largest of the villages that were controlled by IS,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitoring organization, said.
The SDF said on social media they had “liberated the city center of Hajjin and the big mosque.”
Hajjin lies on the east bank of the Euphrates in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Iraq.
The area held by IS is sometimes referred to as the “Hajjin pocket,” the last rump of a once-sprawling “caliphate” the group proclaimed in 2014 over parts of Syria and Iraq.
Obstacles
The SDF Kurdish-Arab alliance launched an operation in September to flush out Daesh but their advance has been fraught with obstacles.
The push to retake Hajjin was delayed by Turkish threats on Kurdish heartlands further north and deadly counter-attacks by die-hard jihadists making a bloody last stand.
“Now Daesh is confined to tunnels and to the edges of town,” Abdel Rahman said.
“Fighting on the group and air strikes are continuing. The mines planted by the jihadists are the main remaining obstacle,” he said.
No casualty toll was immediately available for the latest fighting but according to the Observatory close to 500 SDF fighters have been killed since the start of the operation on September 10.
Around 300 civilians have also been killed, many of them in coalition air strikes, and thousands have been forced to flee their homes.