Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Monday 30 october 2017

Their caliphate in ruins, IS militants melt into the desert

By BASSEM MROUE on one another, that could
Associated Press give the extremists an
BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State opening to regroup.
militants, routed from one A similar dynamic threat-
urban stronghold after an- ens recent gains in Syria.
other in Syria, have recent- The U.S.-backed Syrian
ly been moving deeper Democratic Forces and
into Syria’s remote desert, Russia-backed govern-
where experts say they are ment troops have been
regrouping and preparing the most effective in the
their next incarnation. fight against IS, but are now
The Sunni militants’ self- waging parallel offensives
proclaimed “caliphate” in Deir el-Zour that could
with its contiguous stretch bring them into conflict
of land — linking major cit- with one another.
ies such as Syria’s Raqqa Gen. Joseph Dunford,
and Iraq’s Mosul — may chairman of the U.S. Joint
have been vanquished, In this June 29, 2016 file photo released by Iraq’s Counterterrorism Service shows an Islamic State Chiefs of Staff, called the
but many agree this territo- militant convoy destroyed by airstrikes near Fallujah, Iraq. SDF’s liberation of Raqqa
rial defeat will not mark the Associated Press an “inflection point” in the
end of IS. mountains. It encompasses Arabia, and western Iraq. already on display. In the fight against IS, but warned
Beyond the urban and in- about 500,000 square ki- The desolate landscape is eastern Syrian town of May- that the coalition needs to
habited areas lies the vast lometers (200,000 square a perfect hideout and a adeen, a former IS strong- stay focused.
Syrian Desert, also known miles) across parts of south- second home for many IS hold, the militants pulled “ISIS is on their heels right
as Badiyat al-Sham, famous eastern Syria, northeast- militants from the days be- back and disappeared now and our job is to make
for its caves and rugged ern Jordan, northern Saudi fore the birth of their ca- into the desert after only a sure they don’t recover,”
liphate. Experts estimate few days of battle with Syr- Dunford said, using an al-
that hundreds of thousands ian government forces ear- ternative name for the
of troops would be needed lier this month. group.
to mount search opera- The top U.S. envoy for the Experts say that will be dif-
tions — and even more to anti-IS coalition, Brett Mc- ficult.
put the desert under per- Gurk, said the Sunni militant Dana Jalal, a Sweden-
manent control. group is now down to the based Iraqi journalist who
Once they melt into the last 10 percent of the terri- closely follows jihadi groups
desert, without an army tory it once held in Iraq and in the Middle East, said IS
of tens of thousands of Syria. “will become an under-
supporters from dozens The group still maintains ground terrorist organiza-
of countries, IS jihadis will some appeal for Sunnis, tion.”
resort to guerrilla-style at- who complain of discrimi- “The lone wolf has nothing
tacks: scattered hit-and- nation by Iraq’s Shiite-led to lose. They have nothing
run attacks and suicide government and by Syrian to defend now,” Jalal said.
bombings. President Bashar Assad’s The group’s predecessor,
“They love fighting battles minority Alawite sect, an al-Qaida in Iraq, was al-
in the desert and they will offshoot of Shiite Islam. most crushed in 2007 by
go back to the old ways,” IS will also look to buy time U.S. and Iraqi forces. But
said Omar Abu Laila, a Eu- and benefit from political after the Americans with-
rope-based opposition ac- and other conflicts — such drew from Iraq in 2011, the
tivist originally from Syria’s as this month’s clashes be- militants regrouped, even-
eastern province of Deir el- tween Iraqi and Kurdish tually emerging stronger
Zour, which lies in the heart forces following the Kurd- than ever in the summer
of Badiyat al-Sham. ish independence refer- of 2014, when they con-
IS leaders appear to have endum. That fighting has quered large areas of Syria
made contingency plans already diverted resources and Iraq.
that involve precisely this from the war on IS, the top IS will again “find a sup-
— regrouping in the des- U.S. general in Iraq, Lt. Gen. porting base in Sunni Iraq,”
ert and launching attacks, Paul Funk, told The Associ- where discontent with the
much like IS’ predecessor, ated Press last week. Shiite-led government runs
al-Qaida in Iraq, did for Iraqi troops, Shiite militia- high, said Mutlu Civiroglu, a
more than a decade after men and Kurdish forces Washington-based Kurdish
the U.S.-led 2003 invasion. have driven IS from nearly affairs analyst who follows
Some of those plans are all of Iraq, but if they turn the battle against IS.q