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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 20 March 2019

Troops celebrate as US-backed force seizes IS camp in Syria

By PHILIP ISSA
Associated Press
BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP) —
U.S.-backed Syrian forces
on Tuesday seized con-
trol of an encampment
held by the Islamic State
group in eastern Syria, af-
ter hundreds of militants
surrendered overnight, a
spokesman said, signaling
the group’s collapse after
months of stiff resistance. A
group of suspects involved
in a January bombing that
killed four Americans in
northern Syria were among
militants captured by the
Kurdish-led forces.
The taking of the IS camp
was a major advance but
not the final defeat of the
group in Baghouz, the last
village held by the extrem-
ists where they have been U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters celebrate their territorial gains over Islamic State militants in Baghouz, Syria,
holding out for weeks under move to a camp Tuesday, March 19, 2019.
siege, according to Mus- Associated Press
tafa Bali, the spokesman did our best, the rest is up when the battle may finally jets circling overhead. At a the deadliest assault on
for the Kurdish-led force to God,” a fighter says as be over. Commanders say command post in Baghouz, U.S. troops in Syria since
known as the Syrian Demo- black smoke rises from be- they don’t know how many a Humvee pulled up and American forces went into
cratic Forces. Still, fighters hind him. The complete fall more may still be left, hid- unloaded weapons cap- the country in 2015.
from the force were start- of Baghouz would mark the ing in tunnels beneath the tured from IS on Tuesday, As they make their final
ing to celebrate anyway. end of the Islamic State war-scarred village. including sniper and hunt- stand, the IS militants have
“I’m happy it’s over. Now I group’s self-declared terri- In the seizure Tuesday of the ing rifles, pump action shot issued a string of state-
know my people are safe,” torial “caliphate,” which at encampment, hundreds of guns and grenades and ments this month claiming
said a fighter who identified its height stretched across wounded and sick militants ammunition. to have inflicted heavy
himself as Walid Raqqawi much of Syria and Iraq. For were captured and have Five trucks hauling 10 trail- losses on the SDF.
who fought in the camp the past four years, U.S.-led been evacuated to nearby ers full of people were seen In an audio posted online
Monday night. He said he is forces have waged a de- military hospitals for treat- coming out of Baghouz. A Monday, the IS spokesman,
returning to his hometown structive campaign to tear ment, Bali, the SDF spokes- child could be heard wail- Abu Hassan al-Muhajer, is-
of Raqqa to rest. Com- down the “caliphate.” But man, said in a Twitter post. ing from inside one of them. sued his first message in six
rades from his unit sang even after Baghouz’s fall, IS Still, he cautioned, “this is At least 100 people, nearly months, calling for revenge
and danced in celebration maintains a scattered pres- not a victory announce- all of them children, have attacks by Muslims in West-
at an outpost in Baghouz, ence and sleeper cells that ment, but a significant died in the truck trips from ern countries in retaliation
all saying they were looking threaten a continuing insur- progress in the fight.” Baghouz on the way to a for the shooting attack on
forward to going home. gency. There were conflicting re- camp in northern Syria, or two New Zealand mosques
An unknown number of IS The battle for Baghouz ports from SDF command- soon after reaching it, ac- that killed 50 people.
militants still clung to a tiny has dragged on for weeks ers on the ground about cording to the International He also ridiculed U.S. dec-
sliver of land trapped be- — and the encampment the extent of the IS surren- Rescue Committee — a larations of the defeat of
tween the Euphrates River has proven a major battle- der. Commander Rustam sign of how miserable con- the Islamic State group,
and the encampment now ground, with tents covering Hasake told The Associ- ditions were inside Baghouz calling the claim of victory
held by the SDF, officials in foxholes and underground ated Press that SDF forces during the siege as supplies a “hallucination.” But SDF
the force said. tunnels. advanced on four fronts ran out. fighters celebrated as if
The militants have been The siege has also been Monday night and were Bali, in a separate Twitter the final collapse were im-
putting up a desperate slowed by the unexpect- inside the camp when the post Tuesday, said the SDF minent. At the SDF outpost
fight, their notorious pro- edly large number of civil- last IS fighters surrendered captured a group of sus- in Baghouz, a commander
paganda machine work- ians in Baghouz, most of at dawn. He said the last pects involved in a Janu- danced with his soldiers.
ing even on the brink of them families of IS mem- fighters were pushed out of ary suicide bombing that Fighters said remaining
collapse. On Monday, IS bers. Over past weeks they the camp and were now killed four Americans in the IS militants didn’t put up
issued a video showing its have been flowing out, ex- in an open patch of land northern town of Manbij. much resistance. “We fired
militants furiously defend- hausted, hungry and often by the Euphrates River and He did not elaborate on on them with our rifles and
ing the encampment, a wounded. The sheer num- were being processed and the number of suspects or heavy weapons and they
junkyard of wrecked cards, ber who emerged — nearly detained. whether they were among didn’t shoot back. So we
motorcycles and tents. In 30,000 since early January Another commander, how- the most recent militants to walked into the camp and
the footage, they shoot according to Kurdish offi- ever, said some IS militants surrender. The Islamic State they didn’t shoot at us,”
nonstop with AK-47s and cials — took the Kurdish-led continue to hold a tiny group claimed responsibil- said Orhan Hamad, from
M-16s from behind trucks, SDF by surprise. area in an open patch of ity for the blast outside a the northern province of
vehicles and sand berms. In the last two weeks, many land in the village, outside popular restaurant in Man- Hassakeh.
A group of children could IS militants appeared to the encampment. bij, which killed at least 16 “I tell the martyrs, it wasn’t
be seen at one point amid be among those evacuat- AP journalists in Baghouz people, including two U.S. for nothing. With God’s
the fighting. “My Muslim ing. But SDF commanders reported sporadic gunfire service members and two permission, we’ve finished
brothers everywhere, we have stopped speculating echoing in Baghouz and American civilians. It was Daesh.”q