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IS jihadists cornered in pocket of south Syria: monitor
BEIRUT, July 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Dozens of Islamic State group fighters
were cornered in a pocket of Syria’s Daraa on Tuesday after losing all other
territory there to a Russian-backed regime assault, a monitor said.
To get themselves out, IS was using the release of 30 Druze women and
children it kidnapped last week as a bargaining chip, said the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.
“There have been talks since yesterday between regime forces and IS to
evacuate around 100 IS fighters and their families from the southwest part of
Daraa to the Badiya,” said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.
The Badiya refers to the vast desert stretching from central Syria to the
eastern border with Iraq, and where IS still holds territory.
“In exchange, IS would release 30 hostages it took from Sweida last week,”
said Abdel Rahman.
“To put pressure on IS, Russian warplanes carried out strikes on the area
today,” he added.
IS abducted the Druze women and children from a remote village in Sweida, a
province directly east of Daraa, during a deadly rampage on July 25 that left
more than 250 people dead in the minority-populated area.
IS claimed responsibility for the killings but has made no mention of the
kidnappings on its propaganda channels.
However, a video published by local news outlets appeared to show one of
the female hostages demanding Syria’s government halt its assault on the IS-
held part of Daraa.
After recapturing the vast majority of Daraa and neighbouring Quneitra from
mainstream rebels, Syrian troops turned to IS areas of control in the two
provinces.
In around two weeks, they have whittled down IS territory to the
“surrounded” zone along the border with Jordan, both the Britain-based
Observatory and Syrian state media say.
Syrian state news agency SANA said Monday it expected the group would
collapse “within days” but made no mention of negotiations.
The evacuation deal would not be the first between IS and Syrian government
representatives. In May, jihadists were bussed out of the Yarmuk camp, their
last area of control in Damascus, paving the way for the government’s full
recapture of the capital.
IS fighters from Yarmuk were transferred to the Badiya, and several local
outlets alleged those relocated jihadists carried out the Sweida attacks.
The suicide blasts, shootings, and stabbings were the deadliest ever for
Sweida, which is mostly regime-held and had been relatively insulated from
Syria’s seven-year war.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1741 hrs