The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began an assault against
the final Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria on Saturday, aiming to
wipe out the last vestige of the jihadist group’s “caliphate” in the
SDF’s area of operations.
President Donald Trump, who is planning to pull U.S. forces out of
Syria, said on Wednesday he expected an announcement as early as next
week that the U.S.-led coalition operating in support of the SDF had
reclaimed all the territory previously held by the jihadist group.
The enclave, close to the Iraqi border, comprises two villages. Islamic
State also still has territory in the part of Syria that is mostly under
the control of the Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government.
Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF media office, told Reuters the aim of the
assault was to “eliminate the last remnants of the terrorist
organization” and called it the “last battle”.
He later wrote on Twitter that the battle had started and the enclave would “be cleared soon”.
Bali told Reuters that in the last 10 days SDF fighters had handled the
battle “patiently” as more than 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the
besieged enclave.
The SDF, spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has driven Islamic
State out of a swathe of territory in northern and eastern Syria over
the last four years.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the group’s
“caliphate” in 2014 in territory stretching across Iraq and Syria. But
the group lost its two main prizes – the Syrian city of Raqqa and Iraq’s
Mosul – in 2017.
After capturing Raqqa, the SDF advanced southwards into Deir al-Zor
province, attacking the jihadists in territory on the eastern bank of
the Euphrates River.
The remaining Islamic State territory in Syria is west of the Euphrates.
Trump said in December he was pulling all 2,000 U.S. troops out of
Syria, saying the battle against Islamic State there was almost won.
But a top U.S. general said on Tuesday the group would pose an enduring
threat following the U.S. withdrawal, as it retained leaders, fighters,
facilitators and resources that would fuel a menacing insurgency.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the U.S. military was preparing to withdraw from Syria by the end of April.
A U.S. official confirmed that target date to Reuters, saying the
withdrawal included a pull-out from the U.S. military base at Tanf, near
the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan.
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
Comments
Post a Comment