Isis withdraws from last urban stronghold in Syria

Syrian Democratic Forces capture Hajin in Deir ez-Zor province after heavy fighting

Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent
Fri 14 Dec 2018 14.23 GMT

Islamic State extremists have withdrawn from their last urban stronghold in Syria after weeks of intensifying clashes with Kurdish-led fighters that have splintered the remnants of the group’s leadership and raised fresh questions about the fate of its founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Isis forces retreated to villages to the east of Hajin in the early hours of Thursday after several days of US airstrikes, which allowed Kurdish proxy forces to sweep into the town on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. Clashes continued throughout the day, and western observers cautioned that the militants may be attempting to regroup for a counter-assault.

The fall of Hajin comes after the fight against Isis had stalled for several months, weighed down by the increasingly fraught politics of the seven-year war in Syria and its numerous spinoffs. Friction between two of its main protagonists, Turkey and the US, over Washington’s use of Kurdish proxies to lead the fight had been central to the slowdown, which raised fears that Isis was using it to consolidate after many months of withering losses.

The US had been urging Kurdish leaders to send experienced members to lead its proxy force in Hajin against a diehard contingent of about 2,500 Isis veterans of battles in Iraq and Syria, which have stripped the group of cross-border lands it once controlled and forced it to revert to guerrilla warfare. The US presidential envoy in the fight against Isis, Brett McGurk, said this week that nearly every Isis member in Hajin is thought to have access to a suicide vest.

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