ISIS ups foothold in Philippines as it loses in the Middle East
Almost 400,000 residents displaced by battle in Marawi
At a crowded center for refugees fleeing the fighting that has ravaged this city, Merlinda Obedencio never lets her most valuable possession out of sight: a blue cellphone.
It is the only link she has to her husband and three of their six children being held by Islamic State-linked extremists.
Obedencio’s husband, Raul, and their children were captured by the local Maute extremist group during a siege that started May 23 and has left almost 600 dead.
Almost 400,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Marawi, a city on the southern island of Mindanao, according to the Philippine military. And like Obedencio, most face an uncertain future in a region turned upside down by extremist violence.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, views the drawn-out battle as a major win at a time when it is being driven out of its base in Iraq and Syria, bringing greater attention to the Philippines and Southeast Asia as a new beachhead for extremists.
“This is what I consider the first significant example of how foreign fighters from the Syria/ Iraq battle space can be brought to bear in another part of the world,” said Thomas Sanderson, director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
After weeks of not knowing whether her family was alive, Obedencio got a call from her husband, who got access to a hidden cellphone. He said he is forced to cook for his captors and their son, 20, is being used as a human shield on the front lines, while their daughter, 17, was “married” to one of the fighters.
Farhan Macapandia, 23, an English teacher, spent 13 days trapped at home with 11 family members and neighbors after the fighting broke out. The last four days were spent without food, having only rainwater they could collect.
The group finally made a break to safety. They’re now staying at an evacuation center in the military-controlled compound near the heart of the fighting, where daily airstrikes rattle the buildings and stray bullets are a rou- tine danger.
“We don’t have any idea right now if our house is still there,” said Macapandia. “We don’t have money. Our access to work, lost. Our house, lost. Everything, lost. It seems that we need to have a new life, a new beginning.”
While residents blame the extremists for the violence and chaos, many are also growing impatient with the military and its heavy airstrikes, which are leveling buildings throughout the city.
“We are angry at the two sides — ISIS and the military,” said Macapandia’s mother, Nabiliah. “We are trapped here in a war zone.”
The fighting has been contained to a small area of the city, with 60 to 70 militants holding about 100 hostages, said Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman for the military’s Task Force Marawi.
The fighting, which initially was expected to end in a matter of days, has killed 427 militants, 99 soldiers and 45 civilians, according to the military. The Philippine congress voted Saturday to extend martial law on Mindanao until the end of the year.