Angry crowds of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] families and civilians began evacuating their last holdout in Baghouz, Syria. U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish and Arab fighting force, continued their relentless pursuit of ISIS militants holed up in what looks like the last remaining territory in Syria and Iraq. When ISIS stormed Iraq and Syria in 2014, the managed to seize some 30% of Iraq and Syrian territory with the help of dead-enders from Saddam Hussein’s military. Shortly after, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate June 29, 2014, asking all Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites, to submit to his supreme authority. Five years later, after a campaign of terror not seen since Sept. 11, al-Baghdadi is nowhere to be found and the caliphate is in ruins, teetering on total defeat, at least when it comes to its last hideout in Baghouz, Syria.
Journalists covering the exodus of civilians and ISIS families report anger at the U.S. seen as the aggressor, upending their last safe haven. President Donald Trump committed the U.S. and its proxy fighting force SDF to eradicating the worlds most deadly terror group responsible for mass killings, rapes and torture, in a binge of bloodshed not seen since Medieval Times. Heads were rolling on ISIS propaganda videos, recording some of the most barbaric mass murders since the WW II Nazi Era. Listening to the evacuating families shout Allahu Akbar AKA God is Great, professing undying love of al-Baghdadi and the caliphate shows the extent of brainwashing not seen since WW II or the Korean War, where thought reform turned human beings into programmed automatons, committing any atrocity in the name of Gpd, Allah or its many supreme leaders.
Ridding ISIS from civilian communities in Iraq and Syria hasn’t been easy, where terrorists use civilians as human shields. Whatever the city, town or village once occupied by ISIS, SDF forces have been forced to bomb hardened pockets of ISIS terrorists refusing to surrender or leave their hideouts. When ISIS was finally ousted from Mosul, Iraq July 21, 2017 and Raqqa, Syria Oct. 19, 2017, ISIS lost is oil cash cow, giving the caliphate millions in illicit oil sales from stolen Iraqi oil. One hideout, village and town at a time the U.S.-baked SDF chased ISIS out of every major hideout in Iraq and Syria. Now faced with extinction in Bahghouz, Syria, hardened ISIS fighters await the final bombing campaign once the SDF successfully evacuates civilians and families. “The Islamic State is not finished,” said 39-year-old Aub Sharm, a member of ISIS religious police.
Hardcore holdovers have no intent of going quietly out of Baghouz, even while civilians and families have been evacuated. True believers like Aub Sharm think the caliphate has one more gasp left before it collapses. “The Islamic State will remain and expand, God willing, said 30-year-old Um Fatinma, cursing the U.S. and SDF for finishing off ISIS in its last stronghold in Baghouz. Rooting out hardcore remaining ISIS fighters requires carpet-bombing of all holdouts, once civilians and families safely evacuate. Rooting out ISIS fighters has left Iraq and Syria in ruins, creating uninhabitable destruction. Over 10,000 civilians and families have left Baghouz in preparation for the U.S.-SDF final assault on the area. Pentagon officials still haven’t figured out how to stop recruitment by extremist group like ISIS and al-Qadea because of desperate populations.
ISIS and al-Qaeda recruit desperate individuals, unable to find work or survive without joining terrorist gangs. Not unlike drug cartels, terror groups of disenfranchised souls find ways to feed themselves. It’s beyond the Pentagon’s pay grade to figure out how to fix failed states, driving populations into the hands of gangs and terror groups. An unnamed SDF commander confirmed that once evacuations are complete, he’ll call in U.S. air strikes to decimate remaining ISIS hideouts. SDF forces are well aware of ISIS suicide bombers, inflicting any damage possible on U.S. or SDF forces. Faced with certain destruction, hardened ISIS fighters still believe in the cause, showing no interest in surrendering. Complicating the job for the SDF is the fact that ISIS fighters know they have no hope of surviving in Iraq and Syrian prisons, figuring they might as well fight to the death.
Close to declaring the defeat of ISIS in Baghouz, Syria, U.S. President Donald Trump has been holding out on an announcement for some time. Any day the Pentagon and SDF will give him the word that mission accomplished, ending ISIS’ five-year-rein of terror. If there’s any lesson in Iraq and Syria, it involves the U.S. under former President Barack Obama pulling out U.S. forces from Iraq Dec. 15, 2011, giving rise to the world’s most deadly terror group. While remnants will remain, ISIS has been defeated for all intents-and-purposes. No longer capable of mass recruitment because of illicit oil revenue, al-Baghdadi remains in hiding, watching his caliphate crumble before his eyes. U.S. officials have learnt a bitter lesson that some military presence is needed in power vacuums like Iraq and Syria, whether or not the host governments want the U.S. or its proxies to stay.
