Troops celebrate as SDF seizes Daesh camp in Syria

U.S.-backed Syrian forces Tuesday seized control of an encampment held by the Daesh (ISIS) in eastern Syria, after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, a spokesperson said, signaling the group’s collapse after months of stiff resistance. A group of suspects involved in a January bombing that killed four Americans in northern Syria were among militants captured by the Kurdish-led forces.

The taking of the Daesh camp was a significant milestone but not the final defeat of the group in Baghouz, the last village held by the extremists where they have been holding out for weeks under siege, according to Mustafa Bali, the spokesperson for the Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Still, fighters from the force were starting to celebrate anyway.

“I’m happy it’s over. Now I know my people are safe,” said a fighter who identified himself as Walid Raqqawi who fought in the camp Monday night. He said he is returning to his hometown of Raqqa to rest. Comrades from his unit sang and danced in celebration at an outpost in Baghouz, all saying they were looking forward to going home.

“We fired on them with our rifles and heavy weapons and they didn’t shoot back. So we walked into the camp and they didn’t shoot at us,” said Orhan Hamad, from the northern province of Hassakeh.

“I tell the martyrs, it wasn’t for nothing. With God’s permission, we’ve finished Daesh.”

Hundreds of wounded and sick militants were captured in the seizure and have been evacuated to nearby military hospitals for treatment, Bali said in a Twitter post. Still, he cautioned, “this is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight.”

There were conflicting reports from SDF commanders on the ground about the extent of the Daesh surrender.

Commander Rustam Hasake told the Associated Press SDF forces advanced on four fronts Monday night and were inside the camp when the last fighters surrendered at dawn.

He said the fighters were pushed out of the camp and were now in an open patch of land by the Euphrates River to be processed and detained.

Another commander, however, said some Daesh militants continue to hold a tiny area in an open patch of land in the village, outside the encampment.

Even facing defeat, Daesh’s propaganda machine still functions. An audio recording released overnight purported to carry a message from spokesperson Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer saying the group would stay strong and urged fresh attacks.

It has also put out a video from inside the Baghouz camp, showing bearded fighters among bullet-pocked cars and lying on earth ramparts as they fired assault rifles.

Against this scene, a man with a scarf wrapped around his head declaims a message of defiance: “The crusaders have forced us from our homes and burned us, may God exact the same from them ... O Muslim brothers everywhere, we have done our duty.”

Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi of neighboring Iraq said images showed Daesh had built tunnels in Baghouz big enough for vehicles.

“The advance is slow and the battle could take days to finish,” he told a press conference in Baghdad.

Bali, an SDF spokesperson, in a separate Twitter post Tuesday, said the SDF captured a group of suspects involved in a January suicide bombing that killed four Americans in the northern town of Manbij. He did not elaborate on the number of suspects or whether they were among the most recent militants to surrender.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the blast outside a popular restaurant in Manbij, which killed at least 16 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians. It was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces went into the country in 2015.