Snipers slow advance on IS

Battles rage around last pocket of resistance in eastern Syria

US-BACKED Syrian forces’ advances against Islamic State (IS) militants in their last pocket in eastern Syria were slowed on Monday due to snipers and mines in the area, a Kurdish commander said.

“The advances are slow as there are a number of snipers and a large number of mines planted in the area where the battles are taking place,” said Adnan Afrin, a commander in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Afrin said that, despite these obstacles, SDF fighters, under cover of US-led coalition planes, had managed to take control of “a small area” in Baghuz village, the scene of a key battle between IS and SDF over the past few weeks.

He added that a number of IS militants had been killed and wounded in the ongoing battles, without giving a specific figure.

SDF said on Sunday that it had resumed its campaign to expel IS from the village of Baghuz after briefly suspending it to evacuate civilians still trapped there.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that despite the ongoing battles in Baghuz, around 120 IS fighters had surrendered with their families to SDF fighters on Monday.

Abdel Rahman said that, so far, 20 000 people, including 2 400 IS fighters, had handed themselves over to SDF in the past two weeks.

He added that the safe passageway used by civilians and fighters to flee Baghuz in the past weeks was still open and that there had been no clashes in the area.

Baghuz, on the Euphrates river in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq, is the last significant territory still in the hands of IS, which for years controlled swathes of both countries.

Syria’s Kurds have played a major role in fighting IS in the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, Unicef’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, said in remarks during a press conference that, “in north-east Syria alone, every day since January 2019 a child has died fleeing the fight against the IS in the areas of Hajeen and Bahguz”.

He added that more than 65000 people, 90% of them women and children, have had to find refuge in the Al Hol refugee camp in north-eastern Syria, which was intended originally to host a maximum of 20000 people.

“I can tell you that the harsh winter has been hitting them hard, particularly women and children in the camp,” Cappelaere said.

The Unicef official added that in Al Hol camp alone, there were almost 3000 children of foreign nationality living in dire conditions. Cappelaere called on these countries to take responsibility by repatriating their children.

“These are children, not terrorists. These are children entitled to a childhood, deserving a fair chance in life,” the Unicef official said.

Despite the uncertainty on the ground, some of the 5.6 million Syrians who have left the country say they are thinking of returning home, especially to areas that are now experiencing stability under al-Assad’s control.

But many of them are asking for UN protection, as they are afraid of persecution by the Syrian government.

According to the UN, concerns among those wanting to go home centre on housing; legal issues such as missing documents and property deeds; the availability of livelihoods; and access to health care and schools.

About 13.1 million people need humanitarian assistance in Syria.