Retreating ISIS Convoy Remains Stranded in Syrian Desert: OIR Officials
While Americans celebrated Labor Day, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) fighters and their women and children spent Monday with a bus convoy that remains stalled in the Syrian desert east of Sukhnah, Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported.
The ISIS convoy, which originally included 17 large buses and several other support vehicles, has watched its move toward Iraq halted by a coalition assault that is preventing the jihadists movement towards the east and Syria’s border with Iraq.
The coalition forces and their Iraqi military partners were never part of the agreement between the Shi’ite terrorist group, Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Syria’s Dictator Basher al-Assad’s regime, and the radical Islamists with ISIS to allow these experienced fighters to transit territory under Syrian regime control to the Iraqi border.
U.S. and other coalition officials pointed out that the coalition has been clear that in support of its Iraqi partners, it will not allow the movement of ISIS fighters near the border or onto sovereign Iraqi soil.
Assistance and Deliveries of Food and Water
According to the U.S.-led Combined Joint Task Force Operation, the coalition never struck the convoy and has allowed food and water deliveries to reach the stranded convoy especially the women and children. “The coalition will continue to take action against ISIS whenever and wherever it is able to do so without harming noncombatants,” they informed reporters.
U.S. military leaders have communicated with the Pro-Assad Russians, hoping to encourage the Syrian regime to remove the women and children from this deadly situation. “The Syrian [President al-Assad’s] regime is letting women and children suffer in the desert. This situation is completely on [the Syrian government,” said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the current commander of the combined joint task force’s Operation Inherent Resolve.
During the past week, six of the 17 buses have returned westward toward Palmyra, back in Syrian regime territory, unimpeded by any coalition action, officials said, adding that the coalition continues to monitor the remaining 11 buses and communicate with Russian officials who advise the Syrian regime.
Also on Monday, Coalition officials congratulated the Syrian Democratic Forces on their successful Sept. 2 retaking of the Great Mosque of Raqqa. The seizure of Raqqa’s Old City district, and especially the Great Mosque, is a milestone in the ongoing battle to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Raqqa and all of Syria.
Officials noted how the Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian Arab Coalition evacuated thousands of civilians and went to great lengths to limit damage to infrastructure, including to the ancient mosque.
