| Also see Twitter #Baghouz. |
"We’re slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields by ISIS," Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF Media Office, tweeted early on Monday morning, using another term for 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, backed by the forces of the US-led international coalition, restarted Operation Roundup on Friday after a lull.
"However we assert that the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon," reiterated Bali ‐ similar to a statement that he made on Saturday.
Bali revealed that coalition
s are continuing to provide air cover and ISIS is using vehicle-bourne improvised bomb (VBIEDs)."Several boom-mobiles were destroyed by coalition airstrikes during the last two days of battle here in Baghouz. 3 VBIEDS that were trying to hit our positions were destroyed by SDF fighters," he tweeted.
SDF forces, which have taken up positions on a hill, surrounded ISIS in an area "300-500m," according to Rojava Information Center (RIC).
RIC also reported "the situation was quiet" on Sunday night, "save for 1 airstrike at [7:50 p.m.]
The YPG posted video on Facebook of apparent festivities between SDF and ISIS fighters early Sunday morning.
The coalition's Operation Roundup began on May 1, 2018, with the aim to clear ISIS from the Middle Euphrates River Valley ‐ the group's last bastion east of the river.
| Al Ahram adds: |
An SDF spokeswoman said hundreds had been evacuated out of the crumbling bastion in the past 48 hours.
"More than 800 people exited Baghouz from yesterday until today -- IS group family members and fighters who surrendered," she said.
Three air strikes hit the village of Baghouz earlier in the day, causing a huge cloud of smoke to billow up into the sky.
On Sunday, eight suicide kaboomers blew themselves up before reaching SDF positions and three boom-mobiles were detonated at a distance, the Kurdish-led forces said.
Seven SDF members and 18 jihadists have been killed in the fighting since the final push started, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
| And from the Jerusalem Post: |
The Islamic State fighters were among 400 people to leave the area on Monday after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces staged an assault in recent days, the Observatory said.