British jihadists trapped as the noose tightens on Isil’s caliphate

FOREIGN fighters including hundreds of Britons are effectively trapped in the shrinking remnants of Isil’s so-called caliphate, Western military commanders believe.

Iraqi, Kurdish and Syrian forces have largely sealed the militants’ former strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul, while Turkey has tried to seal its border to jihadists trying to escape.

Maj Gen Rupert Jones, the British deputy commander of the international coalition fighting against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), said those left would be “cleared” by local forces.

British intelligence officials have estimated that about 300 Britons, including women and children, remain in the extremists’ territory, after they travelled to join the group, also known as Daesh.

Local forces have been encouraged to cut off Raqqa and Mosul before they try to liberate them, to prevent hundreds of hardened jihadists fleeing to Europe when Isil collapses.

Maj Gen Jones said a “noose” was tightening around Raqqa, while Iraqi forces were fighting through a maze of alleyways to clear Mosul’s old city.

He said: “There was a time when significant numbers of foreign fighters were flowing into Iraq and Syria. That number has now slowed to a trickle.

“It is increasingly difficult for foreign fighters to go back the other way. Those borders are tight. We are increasingly confident that those foreign fighters are trapped within their areas and will be cleared by our partners.”

Maj Gen Jones said fighting in Mosul was “tough”.

“The Iraqis are fighting through a network of tight alleyways. The remaining Isil fighters have nothing to lose and are fighting with characteristic brutality.”

“Sleeper cells” left behind after the militants were driven back through Mosul’s streets on Sunday attacked Iraqi forces and burned houses, highlighting the precarious security situation.

The surprise assault took place as Iraqi forces were searching the altanak and Yarmouk neighbourhoods in the western side of the city, which had been retaken several weeks ago.

The jihadists set fire to a number of houses and cars in the area before launching suicide attacks. Footage showed families, fearing a return to Isil rule, leaving by car and on foot against a backdrop of rising black smoke.

General Abdulwahab al-saadi, a commander in Iraq’s Counter-terrorism Service, which sent forces to fight the Isil gunmen, said the attackers had infiltrated the area by blending in with returning displaced civilians.

More than 15 Isil fighters were killed, as well as several civilians.

Some 800,000 people have been displaced from the Mosul area since October last year and the security forces are struggling to carry out effective screening.