Biodun.BBC: Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)

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Saturday, March 2, 2019

ANALYSIS: The rise and fall of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

March 3, 2019 00H:39 GMT/ZULU

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters News Analysts, Beirut

Islamic State faces territorial defeat as U.S.-backed Syrian forces attack its final, besieged enclave near the Iraqi border. This timeline chronicles the lightning rise, cruel reign and gradual fall of Islamic State.

FILE PHOTO - A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa, Syria June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

** 2004-11 - In the chaos following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, an al Qaeda offshoot sets up there, changing its name in 2006 to Islamic State in Iraq.

** 2011 - After Syria’s crisis begins, the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sends operatives there to set up a Syrian subsidiary. Baghdadi follows in 2013, breaking with al Qaeda and renaming his group “The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant”.

** 2014 - Its sudden success starts with the seizure of Fallujah in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria at the turn of the year. The jihadists take Mosul and Tikrit in June and overrun the border with Syria. At Mosul’s great Mosque, Baghdadi renames the group Islamic State (IS) and declares a caliphate.

So begins a reign of terror. In Iraq, IS slaughters thousands of Yazidis in Sinjar and forces more than 7,000 women and girls into sexual slavery. In Syria, it massacres hundreds of members of the Sheitaat tribe. IS beheads Western hostages in grotesquely choreographed films.

In September, the United States builds a coalition against IS and starts air strikes to stop its momentum, helping the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia turn the militants back from Kobani on the border with Turkey.

** 2015 - Militants in Paris attack a satirical newspaper and a kosher supermarket, the bloody start to a wave of attacks that IS claims around the world. Militants in Libya behead Christians and pledge allegiance to IS, followed by groups in other countries, but they stay operationally independent.

In May, IS takes Ramadi in Iraq and the ancient desert town of Palmyra in Syria, but by the end of the year it is on the back foot in both countries.

** 2016 - Iraq takes back Fallujah in June, the first town IS had captured during its initial blaze of success. In August, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG, takes Manbij in Syria.

Alarmed by the Kurdish advances near its own frontier, Turkey launches an offensive into Syria against both IS and the YPG. Enmity between Turkey and the YPG will continue to complicate operations against IS.

Islamic State faces final defeat in Syria battle

** 2017 - Islamic State suffers a year of catastrophic defeats. In June it loses Mosul to Iraqi forces after months of fighting and Baghdad declares the end of the caliphate. In September the Syrian army races eastwards backed by Russia and Iran to relieve Deir al-Zor and re-extend state control at the Euphrates River. In October, the SDF drives IS from Raqqa.

** 2018 - The Syrian government retakes IS enclaves in Yarmouk, south of Damascus, and on the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The SDF advances further down the Euphrates and Iraqi forces take the rest of the border region. The United States vows to withdraw troops.

** 2019 - IS is besieged in its last enclave on the Euphrates at the village of Baghouz.

GRAPHIC - Control of Syrian communities: tmsnrt.rs/2E6TwKX

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

BREAKING: Dozens of civilians, jihadists 'flee' IS group's last Syrian holdout

Date created : 20/02/2019 - 10:11 GMT/ZULU

Delil Souleiman, AFP | Fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pictured in the frontline Syrian village of Baghouz on February 18, 2018.

by Leila Mohamed and Biodun Iginla, France24, Beirut. Disclosure: Leila Mohamed and Biodun Iginla had a romantic relationship when she was based in New York.

US-backed forces said several jihadists and dozens of civilians quit the Islamic State group's last patch of territory in Syria Tuesday, and warned remaining fighters should surrender or face death.

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Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have trapped the jihadists in a segment of Baghhouz village that is less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile).

"Dozens of civilians and some fighters have handed themselves over", SDFspokesman Adnan Afrin told reporters at the nearby Al-Omar oil field.

He said a convoy of trucks had entered Baghouz on Tuesday to transfer jihadists and their relatives out to SDF-held territory.

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Outside Baghouz, a France24 correspondent saw a convoy of trucks driving towards the village.

>> WATCH: Exclusive from Syria: ‘The last jihadists are also the toughest’

The SDF have slowed down their offensive as they seek to evacuate civilians before a final push to defeat IS, which seized swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014 and declared a cross-border caliphate.

Afrin said the departures from IS-held territory on Tuesday were the first by civilians in four days.

He said foreigners were among those who left the pocket, but their nationalities "have not yet been determined" and it was not clear if these foreigners were civilians or fighters.

Thousands of people -- mostly women and children related to IS members -- have streamed out of IS turf in recent weeks.

Afrin said some diehard jihadists were still refusing to surrender and "many civilians remain" in the final jihadist holdout.

'Surrender or face death'

The United Nations earlier expressed concern over "the situation of some 200 families, including many women and children, who are reportedly trapped" in the IS holdout.

"Many of them are apparently being actively prevented from leaving by ISIL," it said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.

A France24 correspondent near the frontline heard three air strikes on Tuesday.

Afrin said the "offensive has not stopped" but the SDF have slowed their advance to protect civilians, "who are now on the frontlines".

"The positions we are storming are the ones where we have detected activity by IS fighters," he told us at France24.

"But there are positions where we can't advance or even strike because civilians are among the fighters," he said.

Earlier Tuesday, another SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said his forces were preparing for a final push.

"We are working on secluding and evacuating civilians and then we will attack. This could happen soon," he said.

IS fighters "have only two options, either they surrender or they will be killed in battle," Bali said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported ongoing negotiations between the SDF and jihadists, who are allegedly demanding safe passage out of the Baghouz pocket.

But SDF officials denied any negotiations are taking place.

'Nightmare is over'

The SDF on Monday said a victory announcement would be made this week.

"In a few days we will announce a great victory over the largest terrorist organisation that waged war on the world," senior official Zeidan al-Assi said in a statement.

Dino, a 26-year old fighter who has fought jihadists for years, on Monday said he was glad the battle was drawing to an end.

"The nightmare is over. We have saved the people" from the IS group, he said.

But beyond Baghouz, IS still has thousands of fighters and sleeper cells scattered across several countries.

In Syria, it retains a presence in the vast Badia desert, and the jihadists have claimed deadly attacks in SDF-held territory.

US President Donald Trump stunned allies in December when he announced all 2,000 American troops would be withdrawn from Syria as IS had been defeated.

That withdrawal plan is expected to be accelerated once the last IS redoubt falls.

Any such pullout would leave Syria's Kurds exposed to a long threatened Turkish assault, and the prospect has already forced them to mend ties with Damascus after years of seeking self-rule in the northeast of the country.

Almost eight years into a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions, Baghouz is the main front in Syria's war.

But sporadic regime shelling has also lately targeted a northwestern region of Idlib held by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, despite the area being protected from a massive regime offensive by a September ceasefire deal.

On Tuesday, regime rocket fire killed four civilians including a child in the town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib, the Observatory said.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

‘Leave and go to prison or stay and die’, FRANCE 24 meets French jihadi bride on the run in Syria

Date created : 29/01/2019 - 10H29 GMT/UTC/ZULU

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts, Beirut

Thousands of civilians have fled as the Islamic State group retreats from its final stronghold in northeastern Syria. Among them are many foreign fighters. FRANCE 24’s Mayssa Awad, Roméo Langlois and James André met a French jihadi bride on the run.

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As the Islamic State group’s so-called caliphate collapses under an advance by Syrian Democratic Forces and an international coalition, thousands are fleeing the threat of violence and hunger. Among them are a number of jihadi brides, who travelled from all over the world to live under Sharia. Yet for one French national, she would rather serve time in prison back home, where she has been tried in absentia for terrorism, than stay in Syria where she says she faces certain death.

To watch France 24's exclusive report from eastern Syria, click on the player above.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Syria war: Seized foreign IS fighters 'must be taken home'

A suspected IS member (centre) carrying her baby is escorted into a vehicle in Syria's north-eastern city of Qamishli, after she was handed over to Sudanese diplomats by Kurdish officials. Photo: 20 September 2018 — Image captionA suspected IS member and her baby were handed over to Sudanese diplomats in north-eastern Syria on Thursday, reports say

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Beirut

Captured foreign Islamic State militants must be taken back by their home countries, the Kurdish-led forces in north-eastern Syria have said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said it would not put them on trial themselves and lacked the resources to hold them indefinitely.

The SDF, which controls the region, say they hold about 500 jihadists, and hundreds of their wives and children.

The captured IS fighters are reported to be from dozens of countries.

States that the IS jihadists came from have proven to be reluctant to take these dangerous men back, the BBC's Middle East analyst, Alan Johnston, says.

IS militants seized large areas in Syria and Iraq in 2014 - but have seen been driven out from most the captured territory.

The SDF is being backed by the US-led coalition.

On Thursday, Kurdish foreign affairs official Abdel Karim Omar said that "around 520 Daesh [IS] mercenaries, as well as 550 women and around 1,200 children from 44 countries" were in the SDF's custody, AFP news agency reports.

"It's a heavy burden that we can't carry alone.

"We will not try any IS fighter... We are trying as much as possible... to pressure governments to carry out their duties and take their citizens back."

Media captionRicardo Vilanova was held captive by Islamic State militants in Syria

Kurdish officials in north-eastern Syria handed over a Sudanese woman and her one-month-old baby to a Sudanese diplomat on Thursday in the city of Qamishli, AFP says.

The woman was accused of being an IS member.