U.S.-backed forces are starting to search through the remnants of the Islamic State’s final enclave in northeastern Syria, looking for fighters, mines and booby-trapped explosives.
The effort Wednesday to sift through the broken buildings and shredded tents that litter the landscape in the town of Baghuz comes a day after Syrian Democratic Forces took the area from IS fighters in what officials described as a significant blow to the terror group.
SDF officials said as many as 1,000 to 1,500 more people surrendered following Tuesday’s incursion into IS’s final stronghold, including hundreds of injured IS fighters.
But concerns run high that more fighters lurk in trenches dug all around the former IS enclave, as well as in a complex network of caves and tunnels, which some officials said could run for more than two kilometers.
“A group of Daesh in Baghuz still fight back and hold their families as human shields,” Zana Amedi, a media official with the YPG militia, which has been supporting the SDF offensive, told VOA Wednesday, using the terror group’s Arabic acronym.
The U.S.-led coalition also said Wednesday there has been no letup in efforts to ensure the terror group is defeated.
“The ground offensive, coalition airstrikes and artillery continue as needed,” coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan told VOA. “The SDF feel they are in control of the area, but as long as Daesh puts up any type of fight and hides in tunnels, they cannot declare complete victory.”
Still, efforts to wipe out remaining IS fighters have been slowed due to the ongoing presence of women and children.
“The battle at times has become more non-kinetic than kinetic as the SDF continue to try to save as many civilian lives as possible,” Ryan added.
‘Not a victory announcement’
SDF officials have raised the possibility that the remaining IS fighters may also be holding prisoners and hostages, but there has been no word as to their fate in recent days.
U.S.-backed special forces captured IS’s so-called tent city Tuesday following a push by special operations forces, capturing more than 150 IS fighters in the process.
But SDF officials have been wary of saying the fight is over.
An unknown number of IS fighters have retreated to a sliver of land along the Euphrates River, and there are no estimates for how many fighters could be hiding in other parts of Baghuz.
“This is not a victory announcement,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said Tuesday, despite touting the advance.
Thousands of SDF troops have massed around Baghuz for weeks, laying siege to the town in an effort to liberate the final IS enclave in Syria. Officials said Kurdish special forces from Iraq also had been brought in to help with the operations.
On several occasions, SDF officials said victory was near, but time and again the fight was slowed by fierce fighting and the presence of tens of thousands of civilians, mostly the wives, children and family members of IS fighters.
Uncertain numbers
More than 5,000 people have fled Baghuz since the SDF resumed its final assault on IS just over a week ago, and previous estimates by both the SDF and the U.S.-led coalition have been way off.
SDF officials initially estimated about 1,000 civilians and 300 fighters were holed up in Baghuz shortly after the operation to liberate the town got under way last month. But since then, more than 30,000 civilians, including thousands of IS fighters, have surrendered.
This past Sunday, SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said more than 5,000 IS fighters had surrendered over the past month, while another 1,300 had been killed in the fighting.
Hundreds more were captured as part of SDF operations, he said.
Still, U.S. defense officials continue to caution IS has “tens of thousands” of fighters working either as part of sleeper cells or as part of an active, clandestine insurgency.
Additionally, senior officials believe most of the group’s senior leadership, including its self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remain at large.
…