ISIL deploys car bombs in defense of last enclave

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ISIL unleashed car bombs against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assaulting Baghouz, in its last effort to stave off defeat in the jihadists' final patch of territory, fighters from the U.S.-backed SDF said on Sunday.

Capturing the besieged village in eastern Syria will be a milestone in international efforts to roll back the extremist group, whose "caliphate" once controlled roughly a third of Syria and Iraq at its prime time in 2014.

But the group, which has been in territorial retreat since then and suffered its major defeats in 2017, will remain a security threat as an insurgent force with sleeper cells and some remote pockets of territory.

The SDF had said it expected a "decisive battle" on Sunday after advancing gradually for 18 hours to avoid landmines sown by ISIL, whose fighters are also using underground tunnels to stage ambushes and then disappear.

A man from Bosnia suspected of being an ISIL fighter is searched by members of the Syrian Democratic Forces after leaving Baghouz, eastern Syria, March 1, 2019. /VCG Photo

But there was no sign of the assault ending by Sunday afternoon as ISIL fighters, believed to be mainly foreign jihadists, put up fierce resistance and the SDF said its advance was impeded by landmines and car bombs.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said the pace of the advance had ebbed. "ISIL fighters have been using suicide vests and car bombs to slow down the SDF offensive and hide from Coalition strikes in the area of Baghouz," Colonel Sean Ryan said.

The SDF has previously estimated several hundred ISIL insurgents to be inside Baghouz. The coalition has described them as the "most hardened" militants.

But Ryan said their hiding underground made it difficult to determine numbers.

The SDF said that several car bombs were destroyed by coalition air strikes in the past two days and that SDF fighters had destroyed three other car bombs targeting SDF positions.

Source(s): Reuters