Us-backed fighters resume attack on IS

BAGHOUZ: Us-backed Syrian fighters resumed their offensive on the last pocket held by the Islamic State (IS) group in eastern Syria on Sunday, lighting the skies over the besieged village as artillery shelling and heavy gunfire rang out in the distance.

Warplanes and drones circled over the besieged village of Baghouz. Explosions and fires illuminated columns of smoke over Baghouz as it came under intense artillery and rocket fire. On several occasions the village was struck with apparent cluster fire.

After sunset, amid thuds of artillery a column of smoke rose up, illuminated by explosions, after a strike by cluster fire. The operation was launched at 6pm after a deadline for IS gunmen to surrender expired, tweeted Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He said warplanes struck ammunition belonging to the extremists.

“The fighting is direct and intense,” Bali said, adding that so far there have been no casualties among SDF fighters.

Clashes had already broken out earlier in the day, with IS snipers targeting SDF positions and prompting a rattle of gunfire in response. Associated Press reporters witnessed SDF fighters take cover in a damaged building and fire back at the extremists. They packed high-caliber bullets into munitions belts and headed to the front line.

The assault was renewed days after thousands of people left the tiny village held by IS on the banks of the Euphrates River near the Iraqi border area.

Some 3,000 to 4,000 women and children are believed to still be in the pocket, along with around 500 IS fighters, said an SDF commander on the outskirts of Baghouz, who identified himself as Ali Sheikh.

He said to minimise casualties, the SDF will advance on the ground, with the Us-led coalition providing air support. IS fighters have been surrendering daily and no SDF prisoners remained after the extremists freed them over the past weeks.