Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 7 February 2019

Cornered in Syria, IS lays groundwork for a new insurgency

By SARAH EL DEEB in 2011. Three years later, IS
Associated Press seized vast swaths of north-
BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic ern and western Iraq in a
State gunmen came out of matter of days.
hiding in the middle of the Syria is less hospitable for IS.
night and set up a check- The group’s brutality and
point on a rural road in east- foreign roots alienated
ern Syria. For several hours, many Syrians, and it faces
they stopped those pass- competition from other
ing and searched through Sunni insurgent groups, like
their mobile phones to the al-Qaida-linked Hayat
check their allegiances, Tahrir al-Sham. But unlike
until they vanished again Iraq, Syria has large, ungov-
into the desert. erned areas opened up by
One young man, an edu- the civil war. “Syria will re-
cation worker, got through main in part a place where
the checkpoint safely. But (IS) could retreat and hide
when he got to his destina- because there is still space
tion in the next village, the in Syria,” Hassan said.
threat was waiting for him. The extremists have a long
An IS loyalist told him: Don’t history of exploiting secu-
remove pro-IS graffiti from This frame grab from video posted online Jan. 18, 2019, by supporters of the Islamic State group, rity vacuums, and may find
school walls or you will pay purports to show a gun-mounted IS vehicle firing at members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic another one in the coming
the price. Forces, in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, Syria. months as U.S. troops leave
The incident, one of many Associated Press Syria. Turkey views the Kurd-
similar ones in past weeks, lay the groundwork for in Syria within six months to where the militants were ish forces in the SDF as an
sent a bigger message — an insurgency that could a year if the military and defeated months or even extension of the insurgency
the Islamic State group gain strength as U.S. forces counterterrorism pressure years ago. An IS bombing it is battling at home, and
may have lost almost all its withdraw. President Don- on it is eased. Gen. Joseph attack last month killed four has vowed to launch a mili-
territory, but it hasn’t left. ald Trump has vowed to Votel, the commander of U.S. soldiers and contrac- tary offensive against them.
The group’s once-sprawl- withdraw American forces U.S. forces in the Middle tors in Manbij — a town in President Bashar Assad,
ing caliphate has been re- from Syria, saying the mili- East, told a Senate com- northern Syria that was lib- who also has forces in the
duced to a remote scrap tants are all but defeated. mittee Tuesday that bat- erated in 2016. area, has vowed to bring
of land in Syria’s eastern “As we work with our allies tlefield gains can only be In other areas, the group all of Syria’s territory back
desert, where a few hun- to destroy the remnants secured by “maintaining a has adopted tactics that under state control. An out-
dred battle-hardened of ISIS, it is time to give our vigilant offensive,” saying are less lethal but just as break of fighting would sap
fighters are making a final brave warriors in Syria a IS still has “leaders, fighters, chilling. Fliers appeared in a forces from the struggle
stand against U.S.-backed warm welcome home,” facilitators, resources and village in Syria’s oil-rich Deir against IS and generate
forces. he said in his State of the the profane ideology that el-Zour province last sum- the kind of chaos in which
But in liberated areas Union address Tuesday, re- fuels their efforts.” mer, warning residents that the group thrives.
across Syria and Iraq, ferring to the group by an- He estimated there are IS still controlled nearby oil “Imagine what (could)
sleeper cells are carrying other acronym. between 1,000 and 1,500 fields and that “anyone happen if one third of Syria
out assassinations, setting But his own Defense De- IS fighters in the small area found to steal from them... changes hands from one
up flying checkpoints and partment has warned that they still control, but said should only blame them- security apparatus to an-
distributing fliers as they IS could stage a comeback others have “dispersed” selves.” Other fliers sparked other,” Hassan said.
and “gone to ground.” a mass desertion by local The experience of the ed-
Activists who closely follow volunteers for the SDF. ucation worker who was
Ukraine’s exiled ex- the conflict in Syria already “It was unclear what would warned not to remove
point to signs of a growing happen to (IS) in the future, graffiti was documented
president warns of insurgency. but I think the U.S. with- by Omar Abou Layla, a
Rami Abdurrahman, the drawal in Syria increased Europe-based activist who
possible vote rigging head of Britain-based Syr- the chances for an IS resur- runs DeirEzzor24, a media
ian Observatory for Human gence by manifold,” said collective that reports from
Rights, says IS still has 4,000 Hassan Hassan, an expert eastern Syria.
Associated Press send troops to Ukraine as to 5,000 fighters, many likely on IS who is originally from He says IS loyalists have in-
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s a justification for annexing hiding out in desert caves eastern Syria and is now a filtrated the Kurdish-run ad-
exiled former president, the Crimean peninsula. and mountains. senior fellow at the Wash- ministration, exploiting both
who was found guilty of Yanukovych spoke to the The Observatory said the ington-based Tahrir Institute local Arab resentment at
fueling a deadly separatist press Wednesday in Mos- militants have assassinat- for Middle East Policy. Kurdish rule and the Kurds’
conflict in the east, is warn- cow, breaking more than a ed more than 180 people IS could also stage a resur- eagerness to recruit Arab
ing of possible vote rigging year of silence. since August, including gence in neighboring Iraq, allies. He says his group
in the country’s upcoming He would not endorse any commanders in the Syrian where the group originat- has documented nearly
presidential election. of the over 30 Ukrainian Democratic Forces, a U.S.- ed and where it has oper- 20 cases in which former IS
Ukrainians will vote March presidential candidates backed and Kurdish-led mi- ated in various forms going civil servants have returned
31 to elect a new president. but accused President Pet- litia that drove the militants back to the 2003 U.S.-led to their jobs. It has also
Former President Viktor Ya- ro Poroshenko of plotting from much of northeastern invasion. The Islamic State documented a number of
nukovych fled the country vote rigging. Syria, and nearly 50 civilians of Iraq, a precursor, had recent assassinations by IS,
in February 2014 following A Kiev court last month working with them. been largely dismantled including the killing of an
months of anti-government found Yanukovych guilty of The campaign has un- and held no territory when Arab SDF commander and
protests. treason and of helping Rus- folded across northern President Barack Obama a man who works in money
Russia used his appeal to sia to annex Crimea.q and eastern Syria, in areas withdrew American forces transfers. q