ISIS entering ‘end days’ in Syria as US-backed Kurdish forces take last town in Deir Ezzor
US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria have finally taken the last significant urban centre from ISIS after a three-year fight.
After a months-long, town by town push towards the Iraqi border, the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by US special troops and air power, and cross-border artillery from the Iraqi military, have dislodged ISIS from Deir Ezzor.
The capture of the town of Hajin marks the end of extremists’ control of Syrian population centres, but they have retreated into outlying villages and the rocky desert near by.
Col Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the US-led Coalition, said ISIS was facing its “end days”.
Col Ryan said the offensive against the militant group was going very well but: “They still have the capability for co-ordinated attacks and the fight is not over.”
About 539 SDF fighters were killed in the three-month offensive in Deir Ezzor, and 922 of the estimated 2,000 ISIS gunmen. But about 324 civilians are also believed to have died in the fighting.
Over the past days, hundreds of the 15,000 civilians in the area were able to flee the enclave toward areas controlled by the SDF east of the Euphrates River, and government-controlled regions on the west bank.
ISIS recently switched tactics, returning to the terror attacks and guerrilla warfare that helped it to gain ground in Syria and Iraq.
Heavy air strikes by the Usled coalition forced ISIS fighters to withdraw south of Hajin to areas east of the Euphrates and west of SDF points along the border with Iraq.
Among the villages still held by extremists in the enclave are Sousa, Buqaan, Shaafah, Baghouz and Shajla.
Iraq’s Maj Gen Qassem Mohammed, in charge of operations close to the Syrian border, said artillery strikes by the US-led coalition on the Iraqi side of the border targeted Hajin and areas around it.
“It is a very difficult battle,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali told Associated Press.
Mr Bali said that ISIS fighters were still attacking Hajin but most of those besieged in the enclave were among the most experienced gunmen who went to the area from Iraq and Syria.
“There are still villages to be taken but Hajin was the most important, as it was the base for commanders from where they directed military operations,” Mr Bali said.
In recent weeks, the SDF had to draft in battle-hardened fighters from other fronts after devastating counter attacks by
the extremists, who used sandstorms as cover to launch suicide bombings.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain said the SDF took Hajin early in the morning, after fierce fighting under air strikes.
It said some ISIS fighters withdrew to nearby villages and that fighting was continuing in fields outside Hajin, as SDF fighters chased out the extremists.
Europe-based activist Omar Abu Layla of the DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group confirmed that the town had been recaptured and said that some ISIS fighters were still holed up in small pockets on the edge of Hajin.
Mr Abu Layla said that disagreements in the ISIS ranks over hierarchy between Iraqi and Syrian fighters helped to “speed up the collapse” of the group’s defences in Hajin.
Nuri Mehmud, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), said “intense fighting” was continuing.
A question still lingers over the fate of ISIS leader and founder Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, who has not been seen in public since he announced his self-styled caliphate in 2014 from the pulpit of the famous Al Nuri Mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Last month, ISIS suffered a severe blow when the SDF said it captured Osama Al Saleh, a top aide to Al Baghdadi.
There also remains the question of what happened to several high-profile hostages of the terrorist group, among them journalist John Cantlie who was last seen in the group’s propaganda material in the city of Mosul before it was liberated.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US leader Donald Trump have agreed to “more effective co-ordination” on their operations in Syria, after Ankara threatened to launch a new offensive against SDF units in the north-east.
The two leaders spoke after Mr Erdogan warned of a new Turkish operation against the YPG, which makes up much of the SDF ranks.
The move risks aggravating already strained relations between the US and Turkey, as America supports the SDF and has troops stationed alongside its fighters.
Mr Trump and Mr Erdogan “agreed to ensure more effective co-operation on the subject of Syria”.
Mr Erdogan on Wednesday said he was planning a new offensive within the “next few days”, east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria.
Ankara considers the YPG a “terrorist offshoot” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its western allies.
But the YPG has led the US fight against ISIS in Syria under the SFD banner.
The Pentagon has warned that any “unilateral military action into north-east Syria by any party, particularly as US personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern”.
Tension has increased in recent weeks after the US set up observation posts in the northeast Syrian border region to prevent altercations between the Turkish army and the YPG.
Mr Erdogan has sharply criticised the plan, saying that “terrorists were being protected” from possible action by Turkey.
And, a Turkish soldier was shot dead by YPG forces on Thursday in the northern Syrian region of Afrin, the Turkey’s defence ministry said.
If Turkey does launch an operation east of the Euphrates, where US forces are posted with the SDF, a point of contention will be the city of Manbij, just west of the river.
American troops are also in the flashpoint city, which is controlled by the YPG.
In a bid to avoid a clash, Ankara and Washington agreed to a “roadmap” for Manbij in June, which included YPG forces withdrawing from the city and joint US-Turkish patrols, which began last month.
However, as Ankara has repeatedly reminded Washington, the YPG remains in the city.
On Friday, Mr Erdogan again urged the US to drive the Kurdish militia out of the city.
“Either you clean the city and [the YPG] leave, or we’re going into Manbij as well,” he warned.