COALITION UNCOVERS ISIL INTELLIGENCE TROVE IN SYRIAN CITY
Digital information left behind in Manbij could hold clues to Islamic State’s global plans
U.S.-backed forces found a trove of intelligence in laptops and thumb drives left behind by Islamic State fighters retreating from a battle for the strategic Syrian town of Manbij, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.
While the intelligence has not been fully analyzed, it suggests that Manbij was a regional center for foreign fighters coming into Iraq and Syria. Beyond operational details, it also may reveal valuable information about the extent of the group’s reach.
Opposition forces have seized about 50% of Manbij from the Islamic State in recent intense fighting, uncovering the digital information, as well as documents, said Army Col. Chris Garver, a military spokesman in Baghdad. The in- formation was shared with the coalition, the Pentagon said.
“We think this is a big deal in terms of the amount of information we’ve gathered and what we’re learning about how they ran Manbij as a strategic hub with multiple reception centers,” Garver told Pentagon reporters.
The information may also shed light on the Islamic State’s global reach. Any intelligence that uncovers links about “external operations from Syria is a benefit to everybody,” Garver added.
He said officials are still going through the intelligence. “It’s a lot of material. It’s going to take a lot to go through, then start connecting the dots,” Garver said.
He said the militants rigged buildings with explosives as they retreated, which could mean they are desperate to keep the intelligence out of the hands of opposition fighters and the coalition.
Among the items uncovered in Manbij were textbooks that had been altered to reflect the Islamic State’s worldview.
The fighting in Manbij, a city of about 100,000 that straddles key supply lines in northern Syria, largely has been overshadowed by preparations being made by U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State.
Manbij is a crucial test for the coalition of opposition forces that are being recruited to defeat the Islamic State in Syria.
The city also is a steppingstone for capturing Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria.
The collapse of Raqqa likely will spell the end of the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top coalition commander in Iraq, has said the fighting there has led to improvements in the coalition’s coordination with the opposition forces and given them a better understanding of how the Islamic State will defend Raqqa.
The U.S.-led coalition has provided airstrikes to support the opposition fighters in Manbij.
“The lessons that we’re learning in Manbij will apply to fighting in Raqqa,” MacFarland said.
The challenges in Syria are different than in Iraq, where the U.S.-led coalition supports an organized military. In Syria, the coalition relies on a collection of armed opposition fighters stitched into a force of about 30,000.
A success in Manbij could help swell the size of that force and put military pressure on Raqqa.
The Islamic State fighters probably will fight more tenaciously in Syrian cities than they have in Iraq, because they will have nowhere to go once they are expelled from their Syrian strongholds.
“We’re learning a lot about how the enemy defended in Manbij,” MacFarland said. “It was important to the enemy, so they have fought hard there.”
“It’s a lot of material. It’s going to take a lot to go through, then start connecting the dots.” Army Col. Chris Garver