|
It’s official: SDF declare ‘total elimination’ of ISIS caliphate
 [Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared the territorial defeat of the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (ISIS). The SDF "declare total elimination of so-called caliphate and 100% territorial defeat of ISIS," Mustafa Bali, head of the force’s press office, announced on Twitter Saturday morning. "On this unique day, we commemorate thousands of deaders whose efforts made the victory possible," Bali added. Some 8,000 fighters of the SDF, a Kurdish-led umbrella force of Kurds, Arabs, and Christians of northern Syria, died in the war against ISIS. In Iraq, more than 1,800 Peshmerga were killed battling the group. The Iraqi army has not released their official figures casualties, but it is believed to be in the thousands. The bright yellow flag of the SDF billowed in the wind on Saturday over Baghouz, the eastern Syrian village where the final battle against ISIS happened. The force held a brief presser in the village. "We end the Jazeera Storm Operation here. We congratulate this victory as a glad tiding to Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and all the people of the world," said Chiya Firat, referring to the SDF’s operation against ISIS in eastern Deir ez-Zor. Firat commanded the operation. "We finished ISIS on the ground. We give this victory as a gift to the whole world and wish the best for everyone," he said. In an earlier tweet that was subsequently deleted, Bali said that Baghouz village had been "fully liberated, SDF made victory against ISIS." Taking advantage of Syria’s civil conflict and sectarian divisions in Iraq, the so-called Islamic State swept across large parts of both countries in 2014, declaring a caliphate that imposed a brutal rule over millions. The first military defeat of the group came in the Kurdish city of Kobane, northern Syria in 2015. That began a gradual liberation of territory from the bully boys. Iraq declared military victory over ISIS in 2017. Brett McGurk, the former US representative to the global coalition against ISIS, sent his congratulations to the SDF for their "remarkable [and] historic achievement." Though ISIS no longer controls any significant piece of territory in Iraq or Syria, they are estimated to still have thousands of fighters on both sides of the border and combatting the group’s ideology remains a monumental task. ISIS "fed on perceptions of unfairness in Sunni communities.
Posted by: trailing wife 2019-03-23 |
||
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=537151 |