LAST-DITCH ATTACK BY ISIS FAILS TO REPEL SDF FORCES

▶ United States-backed coalition says battle for Baghouz as good as over

ISIS militants launched a desperate counter-attack against advancing coalition forces yesterday from the small patch of land they still hold in east Syria.

The offensive began just before dawn, from the west of a riverside enclave in the Syrian village of Baghouz where the militant group has been making its last stand, said a commander with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Kurdish-Arab force beat back the counter-assault.

It also tried to secure an area captured from ISIS the day before.

At least four SDF fighters were killed in yesterday’s fighting.

ISIS is facing imminent defeat in its final enclave after hundreds of militant fighters and their families surrendered.

On Tuesday, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said the battle was as good as over.

The enclave is the last shred of territory held by the militants, who have been driven from vast areas of Iraq and Syria over the past four years.

The US-led coalition helped the SDF offensive with air strikes on the ISIS positions.

It said it would continue them “day and night” to prevent any militants escaping.

“Combined with the SDF ground movement, the final push continues,” the coalition said.

The assault on Baghouz continued overnight on Tuesday and into yesterday with the ISIS counter-attack.

Live footage broadcast by the Kurdish television channel Ronahi TV showed a series of large explosions lighting up the night sky over the enclave, apparently from an ammunition dump blowing up.

Smoke billowed past burning buildings as tracer fire poured into the hamlet under the constant roar of shooting and explosions.

SDF official Mustafa Bali said between 1,500 and 2,000 ISIS fighters and their families surrendered en masse on Tuesday and that the militants’ defeat was very near.

“Once our forces confirm that everyone who wants to surrender has done so ... the clashes will resume,” he said.

The coalition said on Tuesday there were an estimated “few hundred” foreign ISIS fighters remaining in Baghouz who had decided to fight to the end.

On Monday, the Baghouz enclave was pounded with a barrage of rockets, but the situation was calm on Tuesday morning before the bombardment resumed.

The SDF, which is led by the Kurdish YPG militia, has been advancing slowly into Baghouz to minimise the risk of casualties from snipers and landmines.

The militant group’s defences include extensive tunnels, where the most hardened foreign ISIS fighters are holed up, the SDF previously said.

Fighters surrendering from Baghouz are being questioned and searched.

Even as it was losing its final piece of territory, ISIS put out a new propaganda video, filmed in recent weeks inside Baghouz, calling on its supporters to keep the faith.

“Tomorrow, God willing, we will be in Paradise and they will be burning in hell,” said an ISIS member identified as Abu Abd Al Azeem.

Most of those who have fled what remains of militant-controlled territory were taken to a camp for internally displaced people in Al Hol, in north-east Syria, where the United Nations described conditions as dire.

The camp, designed to accommodate 20,000 people, is now sheltering more than 66,000.

The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that 106 people, mainly infants, had died since December on the journey to Al Hol, which takes at least six hours.

Many of those who fled Baghouz, particularly foreigners, still express unshakeable support for ISIS, creating difficult security, legal and moral questions for their countries of origin.

Those issues were underscored on Friday with the death of the newborn son of Shamima Begum, a British woman who left London to join ISIS when she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

Despite Ms Begum having expressed a wish to return to the UK for the sake of her son, Britain stripped her of her citizenship on security grounds last month.

Her lawyer has written to the Home Office requesting that the decision be revisited as an act of mercy.

Many of those who fled Baghouz still express strong support for ISIS, creating security, legal and moral challenges