Conflict
Crisis/Conflict/Terrorism
ISIS is now controlling just 700 square meters in Syria, claims SDF

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 17 Feb 2019, 04:35 am Print

ISIS is now controlling just 700 square meters in Syria, claims SDF

New York:  A commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has claimed that ISIS terrorist group just controls 700 square meters area in Syria, media reports said.

As per CNN report, the SDF launched an offensive last weekend to oust ISIS from its last enclave in Syria, in the small town of Baghouz Al-Fawqani in the country's east.

Its fighters have the terror group's final foothold surrounded but have slowed their advance to avoid harming thousands of civilians who are being held by ISIS as human shields, Commander Chia Kobani, head of operations for the SDF,  was quoted as saying by CNN.

He said SDF is working to liberate prisoners held by ISIS.

He was quoted as saying by the American news channel that they had been able to free 10 captives in recent days.

"Some may be surprised that Baghouz has not yet fallen. But the firing has stopped. The area is within range of our fire. But we are moving cautiously because there are thousands of civilians being held as human shields," Kobani was quoted as saying by CNN, "In the coming few days, very shortly, we will broadcast the good news to the world, to all the people of the region, the Kurds, the Arabs, the Assyrians, all the people of the region, of the military end of the ISIS terrorist group."

Kobani  said their efforts will continue even after ISIS is removed from the ground.

"We will move to the next stage to the stage of combating ISIS and its sleeper cells and its remnants in the area in order to secure the safety of this region and the lives of people," he was quoted as saying by CNN.

The US commander who has been leading the war against ISIS told CNN on Friday that he disagreed with Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria and warned that the terror group was far from defeated.

As per CNN report, Joseph Votel, the top American general in the Middle East, also said that the US-backed forces on the ground in Syria were not ready to handle the threat of ISIS on their own.

"It would not have been my military advice at that particular time ... I would not have made that suggestion, frankly," Votel said of the troop withdrawal announcement.

 

Representative image of Syria city: UN website

#SDF   #Syria   #IslamicState   #ISIS