President Donald Trump announced today that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] has lost its last stronghold in Baghouz, Syria, where ISIS terrorists have been holed up since fleeing the Damascus suburb of Hajar al-Aswad May 22, 2018. U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF]. largely composed of Kurd’s YPG militia and other Arab fighters, have successfully rooted out ISIS from Baghouz. While a few ISIS terrorists remain holed up in caves and tunnels, the lion’s share have been killed or fled the area, pushed out of its last bastion. At the height of it caliphate, ISIS controlled some 30% of Iraq and Syria, seizing Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria in 2014. ISIS can no longer recruit foreign fighters promising sex-slaves and oil revenue stolen from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields, giving the once rich terror group appeal to disenfranchised foreign fighters looking for a new home.
Trump’s critics argue that ISIS can always morph into a guerrilla fighting force, capable of wreaking havoc on local inhabitants and elsewhere. Much of Baghouz’s civilian population managed to escape before U.S. air strikes helped the SDF drive ISIS from its last strongholds in Syria. The ISIS “territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. While Sanders gave her briefing, SDF forces battled stubborn remnants fighting to the death in tunnels and caves in Baghgouz. President Trump and former President Barack Obama ordered the bombing of last remaining ISIS hideouts. SDF fighters have not yet declared victory, knowing the difficulty in rooting out embedded fighters unwilling to give up. Press reports shows the SDF engaged in mop-up operations in Baghouz, targeting the remains of ISIS fighters.
When you consider the stranglehold ISIS had on Syria and Iraq, it’s remarkable that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s caliphate has been virtually eliminated. While there’s always stray terrorists fleeing to the hinterlands of Iraq and Syria, once coalition forces ousted ISIS from Mosul and Raqqa Oct. 16, 2017, the terror group lost its illicit oil revenue, unable to pay for infrastructure. Over the last year-and-a-half ISIS has run out of cash, no longer enticing new recruits with sex slaves and cash. Starving ISIS of its save havens and illicit oil revenue has turned Baghdadi’s gang into a shell of its former self. White House officials, with SDF help, have a lot to celebrate, rooting out remaining ISIS terrorists from tunnels and spider holes in Baghouz. SDF officials estimate several hundred terrorists and families remain holed up Baghouz’s. More U.S. air strikes should finish the job.
SDF officials are in no rush to root out final remnants of the Baghdadi’s gang, knowing they have no food or water left in the caves, tunnels and spider holes. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan briefed White House officials on Air Force One traveling to Florida. Trump showed reporters a map of ISIS –controlled territory on 2016 Election Day, then compared it with the current map, with Baghouz the last remaining hideout. Trump’s detractors in the press questioned whether or not Trump simply followed former President Barack Obama’s policy, now taking credit. Defense Department officials said that Trump changed the rules-of-engagement in Iraq and Syria, making it easier for U.S. and its allies to succeed in Iraq and Syria. Whatever the situation, its clear that ISIS has been all but defeated, whether or not it survives as roving guerrilla terror force.
Like so many things accomplished by Trump, the media wants no part of giving him any credit. Eradicating ISIS has been a formidable accomplishment, leaving the world a safer place. Menaced in recent years by terror attacks in the European Union, ISIS had a profound impact on the June 23, 2016 Brexit vote, pushing the U.K. out of the EU. While nothing’s settled yet, the EU has changed its tune on forcing refugee quotas on EU members. With the Syrian War winding down, the EU wholeheartedly backed the proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in effect causing much of the immigration crisis over the last eight years. Now that Syria, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah have won the Syrian War, there’s less immigrants seeking asylum in the EU. If British voters get another Brexit vote, they’re more likely than not to approve staying in the EU this time around.
Trump deserves much of the credit for keeping up the intense pressure on ISIS in Iraq and Syria. “They will always try to show a glimmer of vicious hope, but they are losers and barely breathing,” Trump said about ISIS. Trump warned new recruits to stay away or prepare for death. “Think about that before you destroy your lives and lives of your family,” Trump warned future ISIS recruits. Without a bankroll to afford new recruits cash, it’s doubtful ISIS can appeal to even the most down-and-out souls looking for anything to escape their current misery. Fixing failed Mideast states is a long-shot going forward. Depriving ISIS and other terror groups the revenue needed to fund a thriving criminal gangs is the best way to slow recruitment into groups like ISIS. Thanks to Trump’s leadership, the SDF and relentless U.S. bombing, ISIS has been degraded into near oblivion.
