US-backed Syria fighters reject White House claim IS eliminated

US-backed forces said Friday they were battling Islamic State fighters still inside the radical group’s last stronghold in eastern Syria, contesting a White House claim that the jihadist group has been “100 per cent” eliminated.

Mustafa Bali, spokesman of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told dpa there were still some Islamic State cells “hiding in a very tiny area.”

“And in some caves and tunnels, they are completely surrounded and our forces with the help of the (US-backed) coalition are trying to force them to surrender,” Bali said.

Bali’s report from the ground runs counter to what White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said earlier. She said the US Department of Defence “made the call” that Islamic State had been totally eliminated in Syria.

SDF Commander Adnan Afrin told dpa that the fight goes on in Baghuz, a village on the Euphrates river in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. “The combing operation is still continuing,” Afrin said.

President Donald Trump, after arriving in Florida for a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort, held up a paper showing two maps of Syria – one with red ink representing Islamic State-held territory before he took office, the other showing no red.

“There’s ISIS [Islamic State], and that’s what we have right now,” pointing to the area without any red Islamic State territory. He then handed the paper to reporters. “You guys can have the map. Congratulations.”

Earlier this month, the SDF fighters started what they described as their final battle aimed at expelling Islamic State from its last bastion in the village of Baghuz in eastern Syria.

Some Islamic State fighters and families surrendered overnight, according to the SDF-linked Kurdish Rojava Information Centre on Friday.

“Some men and a few women and children remain on small patches of land in the Baghuz area and refuse to surrender,” the centre added in a tweet.

There are still two remaining clusters of Islamic State militants – one near a cliff in Baghuz and another smaller group by the Euphrates River, the centre said without giving specific figures.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, reported Friday that some 300 Islamic State fighters had been killed or injured in the latest battles.

The Britain-based watchdog added that the hardline jihadists were hiding inside a cave and a tunnel that were targeted by US-led coalition strikes.

Baghuz, located on the Euphrates River in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq, is the last significant territory still in the hands of Islamic State, which for years controlled swathes of both countries.

SDF fighters have recently said that massive landmines planted by Islamic State in the area have slowed down their advance.

Syria’s Kurds have played a major role in fighting Islamic State. The SDF forces have captured much of the Syrian territory once held by Islamic State, including its former de facto capital of al-Raqqa.

Source: US-backed Syria fighters reject White House claim IS eliminated | dpa International