Islamic State enclave attacked

BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Syrian forces entered an eastern village held by the Islamic State group where intense clashes were ongoing Saturday, a day after the extremists reportedly killed 20 fighters, the forces and a war monitor said.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said its fighters stormed Bagouz and were close to the center of the village. The forces added that they planned to open another front in the Sousseh area along the Euphrates river to increase pressure on the extremists.

SDF launched with the help of the U.S.-led coalition a wide offensive last week to capture the last pocket held by Islamic State in Syria. The Kurdish-led forces have been among the most effective in the fight against the extremists in Syria, forcing them out of much of the country’s east.

Despite losing most of the territory it held in Iraq and Syria since its peak in 2014, Islamic State remains a disruptive force in both countries. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, urged his followers to “persevere” in an audio tape attributed to him last month.

The Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency said the group’s gunmen targeted advancing SDF fighters in the Bagouz area with mortar rounds, roadside bombs and sniper fire, causing casualties. The SDF commander of the operation in Bagouz, who identified himself as Shergo, said in a video statement that the fighting was intense from both sides and that his fighters controlled almost half of the village.

Britain’s Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State fighters are relying on a network of tunnels in the area and land mines to slow down SDF’s offensive. It said that some 100 women and 30 men, including Islamic State fighters, along with their children, surrendered to the SDF.

The storming of Bagouz came a day after the Observatory said Islamic State gunmen took advantage of a sandstorm and killed 20 SDF fighters in the country’s east, wounding others.

Bassem Mroue is an Associated Press writer.