‘End days’ nearing for Daesh in Syria

BEIRUT: Fighting against Daesh group in its last enclave in eastern Syria “is going very well,” a US official said on Saturday as US-backed Syrian ighters battled the extremists on the edge of the largest urban area they still hold.

Spokesman for the Us-led Coalition Col. Sean Ryan’s comments came a day after the Us-backed Syrian Democratic Forces captured the town of Hajin, the largest urban area controlled by Daesh in the enclave.

Ryan said Daesh still poses a threat and Its ighters are regrouping, planting improvised explosives devices to slow the progress of SDF offensives. He added that the “end days” of Daesh in the enclave they hold near Iraq’s border are getting closer, however, “they still have the capability for coordinated attacks, and the ight Is not over.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said SDF fighters are removing explosives in Hajin and fortifying their positions amid fighting on the Eastern outskirts of the town.

SDF has been trying to take the enclave since it launched an offensive on Sept.10. Since then, 932 Daesh gunmen, 545 SDF ighters and scores of civilians have been killed in the area, according to the Observatory.

The SDF offensive Intensified over the past days under the cover of airstrikes by the Us-led coalition.

Western powers fighting militant groups around the globe are condemned to a never-ending battle if they only tackle the symptoms and not the underlying causes of insurgency, experts say.

“Beyond the tactical victories on the ground, the current strategy is failing,” said Katherine Zimmerman, who wrote a recent report for the American Enterprise Institute.