Hundreds surrender as Daesh end nears
baghouz — Daesh faced imminent defeat in its final enclave on Tuesday as hundreds of militant fighters and their families surrendered and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said the battle was as good as over.
The besieged enclave of Baghouz is the last shred of territory held by the militants who have been driven from roughly one third of Iraq and Syria over the past four years.
A Reuters journalist in Baghouz saw hundreds of people surrendering to the SDF, which launched its final attack to capture Baghouz on Sunday, backed by US-led international coalition air strikes and after weeks of siege.
SDF official Mustafa Bali said a large group of Daesh fighters and their families had surrendered en masse. The Baghouz enclave was pounded overnight with barrages of rockets and fires raged inside, but the situation was calm on Tuesday morning. “The operation is over, or as good as over, but requires a little more time to be completed practically on the ground,” SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel told Al Hadath TV.
Gabriel said 25 Daesh fighters had been confirmed killed so far in clashes, in addition to an unknown number of militants killed by air strikes. Another SDF official earlier said 38 militants had been confirmed killed.
The SDF, which is spearheaded by the YPG militia, has been advancing slowly into Baghouz to minimise its losses from sniper fire and landmines.—