Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
U.S. bloc hits ISIS’ last stand in Syria
BAGHOUZ, Syria — Islamic State militants are fighting to hang on to their last piece of territory on the riverside in eastern Syria, deploying snipers, guided missiles and surprise tunnel attacks.
The resistance prompted a fierce pounding Sunday by the U.S.-led coalition and its ground allies in their final push to end the extremist group’s territorial hold.
The U.S.-backed force
known as the Syrian Democratic Forces resumed an offensive to recapture the area in Baghouz on Friday night, after a two-week pause to allow for the evacuation of civilians from the area. Retaking the sliver of land would be a milestone in the four-year campaign to end the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate that once encompassed a vast swath of territory across Syria and Iraq.
The group continues to be a threat, however, with sleeper cells in scattered desert pockets along the porous border between the two countries.
Syrian Democratic Forces commanders estimate that hundreds of fighters remain in Baghouz, taking cover in tunnels and trenches.
A senior Syrian Democratic Forces commander described the militants as “rats” but acknowledged that they’re still fighting to the bitter end.
Commander Akeed, who leads one of the main fronts in the last battle against the Islamic State, said the militants are sticking to their trademark techniques, carrying out swift attacks without aiming to hold ground but laying the area with mines to increase casualties. They also deploy “inghimasiyoun,” a term that the group uses to refer to infiltrators who go behind enemy lines to take hostages.
Early Sunday, one of Akeed’s units came under attack from a group of 10 Islamic State militants, including four women who emerged from a tunnel but were met with fire. At least two militants died but the rest escaped, he said.
“They have said they will engage and won’t leave,” Akeed told The Associated Press from his position, hundreds of yards from the front line. “They are strong enemies but they are besieged from three fronts. What could they do? Attack to prove themselves.”
What appears to be a major weapons depot was targeted Saturday in the opening salvo of a ground assault on the tent encampment and parts of the villages still in Islamic State hands. On Sunday, airstrikes continued to hit the depot as fire raged for more than 24 hours.
Other airstrikes hit another mortar depot on the other edge of the tent encampment, which days ago was full of residents before they were evacuated ahead of the military assault. A third hit a building where a sniper was taking cover.
Sefqan, another Syrian Democratic Forces commander who leads a special forces unit that advanced into Baghouz on Saturday night, said the targeted weapons depot appeared to be a major one for the militants.
He said the airstrikes continued to target the two-floor depot to keep the militants away from whatever remains there.
Syrian Democratic Forces fighters advanced on the militants from two fronts Saturday, cutting off their access to the river that abuts their last territory from two sides.
Mustafa Bali, the spokesman for the U.S.-allied group, said coalition airstrikes destroyed several car bombs during the past two days of battle in Baghouz. In a tweet, he said three car bombs that were trying to hit Syrian Democratic Forces positions were destroyed.
President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, described the territory the Islamic State holds as an “insignificant piece of real estate.”
Asked in an interview with CNN whether the Islamic State has been defeated in “100 percent of the land” in Syria, as Trump had asserted last week, he said: “It will happen very, very soon.”
Bolton added that the U.S. will keep pressing its European allies to take back citizens caught fighting for the Islamic State in Syria if they’re released.
The fate of the estimated 800 to 1,000 captives taken by Kurdish militias in northeastern Syria has been a sore point since Trump tweeted in February that the U.K., France, Germany and other European countries should “take back over 800 ISIS fighters” or “we will be forced to release them.”
Asked on CBS’ Face the Nation whether the U.S. would put captured fighters on trial, Bolton said, “It’s a possibility, but we’re not eager to simply pick up that responsibility. We think that others have the responsibility, too, and that’s the approach we’re taking.”
BROKEN TRUCE
The global fight against the Islamic State group is one conflict in a country that has been at civil war for nearly eight years.
Near the northwestern province of Idlib, a Syrian jihadi group linked to al-Qaida killed 21 Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen, violating a months-old truce in the area, according to activists and a Syria war monitor.
Sunday’s attack by Ansar al-Tawhid fighters was carried out in the village of Massasneh in the north of Hama province, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A statement by the Syrian Foreign Ministry confirmed the attack, saying “terrorist groups” launched a preplanned attack on armed forces stationed along the main road of Massasneh, killing and wounding a number of soldiers.
“Syria confirms the full readiness and integrity of the Syrian army in dealing with these crimes and violations,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Russia and Israel will establish a joint team to work toward the pullout of all foreign troops from Syria fighting in its civil war.
Netanyahu, who has been pushing to expel Iranian fighters and their allied forces from Syria, said Sunday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to work toward this goal at a meeting last week in Moscow. Israel and Russia will continue military coordination, Netanyahu said at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has largely prevailed in the civil war, and other Middle East states have begun welcoming him back into the fold. The United Arab Emirates late last year announced plans to reopen its embassy in Damascus, and overtures are being made by other Arab states.
However, those efforts have been put on hold after a push by the United States to deter its allies from renewing ties with Assad’s government.
The Trump administration has pressed its allies to hold back, warning that any moves to participate in the rebuilding of Syria would trigger U.S. sanctions designed to pressure Assad into accepting political changes, U.S. officials say.
Many Arab states, meanwhile, are unsure whether they want to rehabilitate a leader who remains bound to Iran by a long and close alliance, according to diplomats in the region. Iran has gained influence in Syria by helping Assad win the war.
The U.S. position on Iran’s role is “that political isolation and political pressure [are] the appropriate approach,” said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief the news media. The objectives include the exit from Syria “of all Iranian-commanded forces,” he said.
Russia is urging Arab governments to build bridges with Damascus, say diplomats who have been briefed on the issue. Moscow’s goal is to curtail Iran’s influence, according to the diplomats.