ISIL deploys car bombs in defence of last enclave
BAGHOUZ, SYRIA • The Islamic State unleashed car bombs against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assaulting Baghouz, in a last-ditch effort to stave off defeat in its final patch of territory, fighters from the U.S.-backed force said on Sunday.
Capturing the besieged village in eastern Syria will be a milestone in international efforts to roll back the jihadists, whose self-styled “caliphate” covered roughly a third of Syria and Iraq at its height in 2014.
But it is universally accepted that the group, which has been in territorial retreat since then and suffered its major defeats in 2017, will remain a security threat as an insurgent force with sleeper cells and some remote pockets of territory.
The SDF had said it expected a “decisive battle” on Sunday after advancing gradually for 18 hours to avoid landmines sown by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, whose fighters are also using underground tunnels to stage ambushes and then disappear.
But there was no sign of the assault ending by Sunday afternoon as the ISIL fighters — believed to be predominantly foreign jihadists — put up fierce resistance and the SDF said its advance was impeded by landmines and car bombs.
A Reuters witness spotted Islamic State militants inside the enclave as gun battles raged intermittently and the SDF fired mortar and artillery shells. Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition flew overhead.
A spokesman for the U.S.led coalition said the pace of the advance had ebbed.
“ISIS fighters have been using suicide vests and car bombs to slow down the SDF offensive and hide from Coalition strikes in the area of Baghouz,” Col. Sean Ryan said.
“They still hold civilians and are lacing the tunnels with IEDs (improvised explosive devices) as well.”
The SDF has previously estimated several hundred ISIL insurgents to be inside Baghouz. The coalition has described them as the “most hardened” militants.
But Ryan said their hiding underground made it difficult to determine numbers.
The SDF said that several car bombs were destroyed by coalition air strikes in the past two days and that SDF fighters had destroyed three other car bombs targeting SDF positions.
The jihadists had also shelled the approaching force.
Sinjar Shammar, from the Kurdish YPG, which spearheads the SDF, was wounded when shrapnel from a shell struck the armoured vehicle he was driving.
“My comrade was sent to the hospital. His leg is gone,” said Shammar, 22, as his arm was being bandaged at a first-aid point.
“(But) morale is great (at the front line). I will return to the comrades in a bit ... God willing, we will triumph.”