Only ‘100 jihadists’ left in IS-held Syria town: Turkey – 130 killed in three days of Syria clashes: monitor

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ISTANBUL, Feb 22, (AFP): Turkey said Wednesday fewer than 100 jihadists were still holed up in the flashpoint Islamic- State Syrian town of Al- Bab, as rebel commanders predicted its capture was imminent. The fight for Al-Bab has seen the bloodiest clashes of Ankara’s halfyear campaign inside the conflicttorn country and its capture would be one of the most significant reverses for Islamic State in Syria. Speaking to NTV television, Defence Minister Fikri Isik said half of the town of Al-Bab was in the hands of Turkish troops and allied pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, after the government repeatedly said it was “largely under control”. “We estimate there are less than 100” IS fighters left in Al-Bab, Isik told NTV. “But they are very dangerous people. Some are snipers, some are potential suicide bombers.” He said the operation to surround Al-Bab was “over” with troops now moving from district-to-district to “clean up” the town. “Until this clean-up inside is completed, it’s impossible to say that our work is over,” he added.

Resistance
Rebel commanders on the ground told AFP reporters in Syria their forces were facing fierce resistance, with IS using snipers and laying roadside bombs. “We control more than 60 percent of Al-Bab and we will continue until all the town is captured,” Saif Abu Bakr, commander of the Al-Hamza rebel group told AFP. “We will win the battle at any cost … in the next days, God willing.” He could not say how many jihadists were left inside Al-Bab but said they were “in a state of collapse”. Mohammad al-Jassem, of the rebel group Jabha Shamiya, added: “We have taken over most of the neighbourhoods of Al-Bab, thank God, and I do not think that taking over the entire town will take us long.”

An AFP TV reporter saw the pro- Ankara rebels, protected with just light flak jackets, combing through the ruins on the outskirts of the city on foot and in pick-ups, sometimes opening fire towards the jihadists. But Rami Abdel Rahman, head of  Rights, told AFP in Beirut that Turkish troops and allied rebels controlled only 25 percent of Al-Bab, with some 700 jihadists still fighting there. Since launching its unprecedented incursion into Syria in August, Turkey has been focusing on Al-Bab as the last bastion of IS extremists in Aleppo province. But the battle for the town has been fierce, with most of the 69 Turkish soldiers killed in the Syria campaign dying there.

The Britain-based Observatory has also accused Turkish forces of killing more than 124 civilians in two weeks of air strikes and shelling. But Ankara has vigorously denied claims that innocent lives have been lost, insisting it does its best to avoid civilian casualties. The resident and regional UN humanitarian coordinators for Syria said in a joint statement that the United Nations was “deeply concerned” over the fate of some 5,000 civilians trapped in and around Al-Bab. “The conflict in Al-Bab has put civilians, many of whom are women and children, in grave jeopardy,” said Kevin Kennedy, regional coordinator for the Syria crisis.

The statement expressed concern over the possibility of street fighting inside Al-Bab as the battle reaches an endgame “which could place civilians in the area at heightened risk of death and injury.” Turkey has repeatedly said after Al- Bab it wants to move onto the de-facto jihadist capital of Raqa to the west and has expressed enthusiasm for a joint operation with partners including the United States to capture the city. More than 130 people, mostly combatants, have been killed in three days fighting between jihadists close to the Islamic State group and rebels in southern Syria, a monitor said Wednesday. The clashes pit the Khaled Ben al- Walid Army — which pledged allegiance to IS last year — against Islamist rebel groups including the influential Ahrar al-Sham faction, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least 132 people had been killed in the fighting that raged in Daraa province near the border with Jordan and the buffer zone before the Israeloccupied Golan Heights. The Khaled Ben al-Walid Army sparked the clashes with an attack on rebels in the west of the southern province. The pro-IS group has since seized three areas including Sahem al-Jolan near the border and a hill overlooking the rebel-held town of Nawa.

The Khaled Ben al-Walid Army “wants to extend its influence in the strategic triangle between Daraa (city), Jordan and the Golan,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. Meanwhile, Russia has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop his bombing campaign while peace talks take place this week, but a political breakthrough on the six-year war remains unlikely, the UN’s envoy said Wednesday. Staffan de Mistura’s comments came on the eve of a new round of talks in Geneva between negotiators from Syria’s regime and the opposition after a 10-month hiatus. Persistent violence and deadlock over the country’s political future, notably that of Assad, remain major hurdles. “Russia announced to everyone … and to myself that they have formally asked the Syrian government to silence their own skies during the talks,” de Mistura told reporters. But just hours after rival delegations arrived for the resumption of the UNbrokered negotiations, there seemed limited ground for progress on making peace.

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