US-led warplanes bombed
the north bank of the Euphrates River in eastern Syria today to flush out
holdout jihadists from the last sliver of their crumbling caliphate. The
bombardment ended two days of relative calm on the front line in the remote
village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border. The Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF) had paused its advance while it combed a makeshift
jihadist encampment, which it overran on Tuesday.
An SDF official who
asked not to be named said warplanes of the US-led coalition resumed strikes on
suspected jihadist positions before dawn on Friday. Top SDF commander Jia
Furat said his forces were engaging with the jihadists on several fronts while
the coalition warplanes provided air support. The US-led coalition said the
"operation to complete the liberation of Baghouz is ongoing".
President Trump, making
brief remarks to reporters after landing in Palm Beach, FL showed a before-and-after
map to demonstrate the extent of the caliphate’s losses during his presidency.
Some Islamic State
fighters remain holed up in the central Syrian desert, an area entirely
surrounded by the Syrian army.
Over the past two
months, more than 60,000 people have flooded out of the dwindling pocket on the
Euphrates around Baghouz, about half of them civilians including some Islamic
State captives, the SDF has said.
The capture of Baghouz was slowed out of concern for
thousands of civilian hostages.
The fate
of the self-described caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remains unknown. He has
been reported "killed" perhaps a half-dozen times. In 2017, a
Russian lawmaker said a Russian airstrike "close to 100
percent" killed him.
U.S. military officials
in Syria believe he is still alive, hiding out in the desert near the
Syria-Iraq border, based on communications intercepts and interviews with ISIS
detainees. Last August, ISIS released an audio recording purporting to be
Baghdadi, but he has not been heard from since.
UPDATE: Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored News. We’re glad you’re here and we are grateful to Doug Ross for linking to this post.
UPDATE: Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored News. We’re glad you’re here and we are grateful to Doug Ross for linking to this post.
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