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US general warns of IS resurgence as 'caliphate' nears collapse
[Digital Journal] A top US commander warned Thursday that the battle against the Islamic State group was "far from over" despite the jihadists' loss of territory, as survivors abandoned the last shred of the group's collapsing "caliphate" in eastern Syria.A fierce assault by US-backed forces has sparked an exodus of dust-covered children, veiled women dragging suitcases and dishevelled men, many of them wounded, from the village of Baghouz where besieged IS fighters are making a last stand. But General Joseph Votel, head of the US Central Command, warned that many of those being evacuated are "unrepentant, unbroken and radicalised", calling for a "vigilant offensive" against the group. The Syrian Democratic Forces are waiting for more survivors to leave before dealing what they hope will be a final blow to jihadists holed up in a makeshift camp along the banks of the Euphrates. The SDF was not advancing Thursday out of concern for remaining civilians, but its fighters entered the settlement two days earlier and now control a chunk of it, an SDF source told AFP. Remaining families have been pushed towards the far end of the camp near the river, he said. Inside Baghouz on Thursday afternoon, an eerie quiet was interrupted by a brief burst of automatic gunfire. AFP journalists taken into the battered hamlet watched the SDF stage a controlled explosion of a mine found on the side of a road during a sweep of the area. Shortly after, a convoy of lorries carrying civilians and a handful of white vans carrying the wounded came trundling down the same street and out towards a screening point on the edge of village. Hundreds of women disembarked at the outpost, where they waited to be processed and searched by the SDF and members of the US-led coalition. - 'UNREPENTANT, UNBROKEN AND RADICALISED' - More than 7,000 people have exited the enclave over the past three days, mostly women and children. The deluge of fire unleashed by SDF artillery and coalition air strikes at the weekend appears to have taken a toll on the diehard jihadists still inside. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-03-08 |
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