Coalition uncovers ISIL intelligence in Syrian city
U.S.-backed forces in Manbij find laptops and thumb drives
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 about Manbij, It may also reveal valuable information about the extent of the radical group’s global reach.
Opposition forces have seized about 50% of Manbij from the Islamic State in intense fighting over recent weeks, uncovering the digital information, as well as documents, said Army Col. Chris Garver, a military spokesman in Baghdad. The information 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 that was found. “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, has largely 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, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
Manbij is a crucial test for the coalition of opposition forces that are being recruited to defeat the Islamic State in Syria. The city is also a steppingstone for capturing Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria.
The collapse of Raqqa will likely spell the end of the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Army 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 has 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 in an interview last week at his headquarters in Baghdad.
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, about 70 miles south of there.
The Islamic State fighters will probably 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.”