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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 16 February 2019
Push on last IS enclave blunted by discovery of civilians

By SARAH EL DEEB were apprehended by
Associated Press members of the U.S.-led co-
AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, alition and SDF fighters.
Syria (AP) — The offensive Organized access to the
on the last enclave held front line has been restrict-
by the Islamic State group ed for journalists amid secu-
in eastern Syria has been rity concerns, particularly
blunted by the discovery after the injury of an Italian
of hundreds of civilians still photographer earlier this
living there, a commander week.
with the Kurdish-led force U.S.-backed forces are
fighting the extremists said now conducting precision
Friday. operations targeting the
The U.S.-backed force militants' outposts in and
known as the Syrian Dem- around the village of Bag-
ocratic Forces, or SDF, houz and working to clear
launched the offensive to surrounding villages of re-
liberate the IS-held village maining fighters, SDF of-
of Baghouz a week ago, ficials said. The capture of
after more than 20,000 civil- Baghouz and nearby areas
ians, many of them foreign would mark the conclusion
wives of IS militants, were of a devastating four-year
evacuated through a cor- U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit atop a hill in the desert outside the village global campaign to end
ridor from the area in the of Baghouz, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. the extremist group's hold
eastern province of Deir el- Associated Press on territory in Syria and Iraq,
Zour. their so-called "caliphate,"
In Washington, President brought up hundreds of et," he said. The Britain-based Syrian Ob- which at the height of the
Donald Trump said the civilians from underground A blitz of airstrikes and shell- servatory for Human Rights, extremists group's power in
White House will make an tunnels to make the SDF ing last week was believed a war monitor, reported 2014 covered nearly a third
announcement about Syria and U.S.-led coalition to signal the end of the late Friday that a convoy of of both Iraq and Syria.
and the fight against IS by aware of their presence. campaign against IS in its seven trucks, three ambu- President Donald Trump
Saturday. His did not give He estimated that around last toehold in Syria. Thou- lances and other vehicles has said the group is all but
details but his comments 1,000 civilians, including sands of people, including including Humvees for the defeated. He announced
contrasted with the picture women and children, are many foreign fighters and U.S.-led coalition headed in December that he would
painted by SDF command- still in the area. He added their families, emerged toward the IS-held area. withdraw the 2,000 Ameri-
ers, who said the battle has that militants were hiding from the area amid fero- The group said it believes can troops in Syria.
been progressing slowly. among them and using cious fighting as the SDF that the aim is to draw out It is not clear whether the Is-
"We have a lot of great an- them as human shields. closed in from three sides the remaining IS gunmen lamic State group is holding
nouncements having to do "This was a surprise. We did under the cover of airstrikes and their families. any civilian prisoners in the
with Syria and our success not imagine there would by the U.S.-led coalition. "The convoy is likely to enclave, beyond their own
with the eradication of the be this number of civilians IS militants are now clinging come back with at least families.
caliphate and that will be left," Afrin said. to their last square kilometer 200 Islamic State group "We aim to save any pris-
announced over the next He said they were likely to (mile) of land in Baghouz. members of different na- oners, but we have no
24 hours," Trump told jour- be families of IS militants, The anticipated declara- tionalities," the Observatory information about them.
nalists at the White House. but their discovery none- tion of victory against the said, adding that it was not They can be among the
Adnan Afrin, the Kurdish theless has blunted the of- group, however, has been clear if they would agree civilians, or in underground
commander, told The As- fensive. "We do not want to delayed by this discovery to surrender. Hundreds of IS prisons, we have no infor-
sociated Press that in the cause a massacre against of a large number of civil- fighters have surrendered mation," said Afrin, the SDF
last three days IS militants civilians in the last (IS) pock- ians in the area. over the past weeks and commander.q

Far right tried to influence Bavarian election

MUNICH (AP) — Far-right the support for the far-right meddling wasn't driven by authors called "safe havens evidence of a playbook
groups engaged in con- party and undermine trust foreign countries, but rath- for international extremist of online tactics deployed
certed social media cam- in the election process. er by non-state networks of mobilization online." by transnational cultural
paigns to influence last Alternative for Germany, international far-right activ- The report calls for more re- and ethno-nativist groups
year's election in the Ger- known by its acronym AfD, ists "using English language search into online election to influence national elec-
man state of Bavaria by received 10.2 percent of instruction manuals, meme meddling, greater trans- tions in Europe, but this is
promoting the Alternative the vote in the October banks and targeted troll- parency in advertising and the first time we have seen
for Germany party and election, sapping support ing hit-lists." A similar set of for technology companies it played out on a regional
smearing its opponents, from the governing Chris- tactics had been observed to better enforce existing level," said Sasha Havlicek,
according to a study pub- tian Social Union. The re- in earlier elections in Italy, policies designed to pre- chief executive of the Insti-
lished Friday. port, released at the an- Sweden and during nation- vent abuse of their services. tute for Strategic Dialogue.
The Institute for Strategic nual Munich Security Con- al elections in Germany, The authors suggest this is "The concerted effort to
Dialogue, a London-based ference, didn't determine they said. Far-right activ- "vital in order to mitigate influence the elections in
think tank, said it also iden- whether the online efforts ists were helped by new the potential derailing of Bavaria should be a warn-
tified online tactics used by contributed to AfD's elec- technology platforms that the forthcoming EU parlia- ing sign to those oversee-
German and international toral success or not. Re- allowed them to commu- mentary elections" in May. ing election integrity across
far-right activists to amplify searchers said the election nicate privately in what the "We have repeatedly seen Europe."q