| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| US general warns of IS resurgence as 'caliphate' nears collapse |
| 2019-03-08 |
| [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 |
| #9 Not sure on that one Herb. Germany and South Korea might represent valid counter-arguments. I tend to 'follow the money'. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2019-03-08 17:28 |
| #8 See, this is why the US military no longer wins wars. After you win, you lose your justification for occupying the country with your troops. Globalism can't function without occupations. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2019-03-08 17:24 |
| #7 Military tactics are irrelevant when Western defeat is politically desired. Global conflict is now our business, and business is very good. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2019-03-08 16:27 |
| #6 The Western political class has decided that any sort of victory over Islamic enemies is undesirable. The Taliban orchestrated a mass fatality attack on the continental US, and then rejected and ignored an ultimatum issued by the POTUS speaking before Congress. The Taliban survived and will return to power, this time explicitly supported by the West. Compared to the Taliban, ISIS is small fry as far as attacks on Western nations are concerned. There will inevitably be an ISIS resurgence because the Western political class categorically rejects victory. Military tactics are irrelevant when Western defeat is politically desired. |
| Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2019-03-08 15:40 |
| #5 waiting for more survivors to leave. Why? Causssssssch the ghosssssscht of John McShcsssshtain sssssschtill carriessssssch a lot of weight at the Pentagon. Just because he almost flunked out of Annapolis doesn't mean anything... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-03-08 12:45 |
| #4 waiting for more survivors to leave Why? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2019-03-08 12:23 |
| #3 Why do so many top military people these days sound like nervous nellies? Don't give them an opportunity to regroup is that so hard? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2019-03-08 12:21 |
| #2 Herpes. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-03-08 11:49 |
| #1 Just don't give them any guns this time. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2019-03-08 11:29 |