U.S.-backed forces launch battle for last ISIS foothold

BEIRUT >> U.S.-backed forces in Syria announced the beginning Saturday of the possible final battle for the last village controlled by Islamic State.

In a brief statement posted on its website, the Syrian Democratic Forces said the push began Saturday night and was focused on the village of Baghouz, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in the southeastern Syria province of Deir al-Zour.

The statement gave no indication of how long it could take to capture Baghouz, but President Donald Trump said last week he had been told that the full territorial conquest of Islamic State could be completed in the coming week.

That would herald an end to the nearly five-yearold war aimed at pushing Islamic State out of its self-proclaimed “caliphate,” the once-vast stretch of territory spanning Syria and Iraq that at its peak was roughly the size to Britain.

Success against Islamic State in Baghouz also would increase pressure on the U.S. military to pull out of Syria, in accordance with Trump’s instructions that the troops should leave once IS has been defeated.

U.S. officials caution, however, that driving IS out of its territory would not end the threat that it poses.

The militants have been regrouping as an insurgency in many of the areas that they already have lost.

They could rebound quickly if the military victory is not accompanied by solutions to the grievances that contributed to their rise, the officials said.

“ISIS remains an active insurgent group in both Iraq and Syria,” noted a report last week by the Pentagon’s Inspector General. “If Sunni socioeconomic, political and sectarian grievances are not adequately addressed by the national and local governments of Iraq and Syria, it is very likely that ISIS will have the opportunity to set conditions for future resurgence and territorial control.”

“Currently, ISIS is regenerating key functions and capabilities more quickly in Iraq than in Syria, but absent sustained [counterterrorism] pressure, ISIS could likely resurge in Syria within six to twelve months and regain limited territory,” the report added, quoting officials with the U.S. Central Command. In a reminder that the militants have the capability to mount attacks well beyond the front lines, assailants on motorcycles Saturday tried to storm a base shared by the U.S. military and the SDF at the Omar oil field, around 60 miles north of the village where the militants are making their last stand.

Most of the dozen or so attackers were killed and two managed to escape after a battle lasting several hours, during which U.S. airstrikes were called in, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

The assault on Baghouz is being conducted by the SDF’s Kurdish and Arab fighters, backed by U.S. airstrikes and U.S. advisers.

It comes after more than 20,000 civilians were allowed to flee the area over the past two weeks, many of them suspected fighters or the wives and children of fighters.

They have been escorted to camps, where they are screened for ties to the militants.