Battle of Baghuz Fawqani

Battle of Baghuz Fawqani
Part of the 2017–2019 Deir ez-Zor campaign, the Rojava–Islamist conflict, and the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War

Map of the military movements during the final segment of the battle, after 12 February 2019. Syrian government territory is situated west and south of the riverbend.
Date9 February 2019 (2019-02-09) – 23 March 2019 (2019-03-23)
(1 month and 2 weeks)
Location
Al-Baghuz Fawqani and surroundings, Abu Kamal District, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria
34°27′37″N 40°57′13″E / 34.46028°N 40.95361°E / 34.46028; 40.95361
Result

SDF and coalition victory

  • The SDF launches series of assaults in accordance with civilian evacuations
  • IS's "tent city", the heart of the IS enclave, is captured by the SDF on 19 March[3]
  • IS territory is almost completely eradicated from Syria on 23 March, beginning an insurgency phase
Belligerents

Syrian Democratic Forces
International Freedom Battalion
CJTF–OIR

 Iraq (minor cross-border support)[1]

 Syria (minor defensive skirmishes)[2]

ISIS

Commanders and leaders
Mazlum Kobane
(SDF commander in chief)
Jiya Furat[4]
(SDF commander for Battle of Baghuz)
Adnan Afrin[5]
(SDF commander and spokesman)
Ahmad Abu Khawla[6]
(Deir ez-Zor Military Council commander)
Mustafa Manbij[7][8]
(Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion commander)
Abu Ali Bard[9][10]
(Army of Revolutionaries Commander)
Lt Gen Paul LaCamera
(Commander of CJTF–OIR)
France Colonel Francois-Regis Legrier[11]
(Commander of Task Force Wagram)		 Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi[12]
(Leader of IS)
Islamic State Abdul Nasser Qardash Surrendered[13]
(IS deputy)
Islamic State Abu Khaled Al-Ansari †[14]
(Senior IS commander)
Islamic State Ahmed Jamil al-Sayed †[15]
(IS commander)
Units involved

Syrian Democratic Forces

International Freedom Battalion

United States United States Armed Forces

France French Armed Forces

United Kingdom British Armed Forces

Iraq Iraqi security forces[24]

Syria Syrian Arab Army

Islamic State Military of IS
Strength

15,000–17,000 fighters[25][26]
Coalition: air support, artillery, and special operations forces (SOF)

4,000–5,000+ fighters[3][33]
Casualties and losses
65 killed (per SOHR)[34] 259 killed,[35] 4,050 captured (per SOHR)[36][37][38]
1,300 killed,[39][40][41][42] 5,000+ captured (per SDF)[3][43]
216 civilians killed by airstrikes
(12 Feb. & 18 March; per SOHR)[44][45]
64 civilians killed by airstrikes (18 March; per NYT)[46]
Many Yazidi slaves killed by IS[47]
Italian photographer wounded[48]
Al-Baghuz Fawqani is located in Syria
Al-Baghuz Fawqani
Al-Baghuz Fawqani
class=notpageimage|
Location of Al-Baghuz Fawqani along the Euphrates River

The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel,[49] that began on 9 February 2019 as part of the Deir ez-Zor campaign of the Syrian Civil War. The battle—which was composed of a series of ground assaults—took place in and around the Syrian town of Al-Baghuz Fawqani in the Middle Euphrates River Valley near the Iraq–Syria border, and was the territorial last stand of the ISIS (IS) in eastern Syria.[50][51]

After corralling ISIS forces into a densely populated cluster of hamlets and a tent city along the riverside within the first week, the SDF realised that a greater-than-anticipated number of civilians, most of whom were relatives of the what were now mostly foreign IS fighters, were still in the enclave. With CJTF-OIR oversight, the SDF took an incremental approach to the battle, launching assaults then pausing to allow surrendering fighters, hostages, and families to evacuate in order to minimize civilian casualties. The "trickle-out" strategy, coupled with stiff resistance by veteran Islamic State jihadists within a small dense area, prolonged the battle into a protracted siege.[52] The SDF officially declared final victory over the ISIS in Baghuz Fawqani on 23 March, marking the end of IS-controlled territories in Syria.[53]

During the battle, on 18 March, a coalition airstrike killed many people. The incident, of which disclosure was suppressed by the U.S. military, killed up to 80 people, including 64 civilians and 16 IS militants according to The New York Times, who revealed it to the public in November 2021. [54] A US military investigation in May 2022 concluded that the airstrike killed 52 IS fighters and 4 civilians and did not violate the laws of war.[55]

  1. ^ a b "February update". syriahr.com. Syria Observatory for Human Rights. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AP 322019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference in control was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Islamic State: 'Thousands of civilians' still trapped in Baghuz". BBC News. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference yahoo1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "U.S.-backed forces to attack Syria's Deir al-Zor soon: SDF official". Reuters. 25 August 2017.
  7. ^ a b Etienne Monin (18 February 2019). "Des civils quittent Baghouz, dernier réduit du "califat" : "Si tu es passée par ici, tu es sur la liste noire pour le reste de ta vie"" [Civilians leave Baghouz, the last cut of the "caliphate": "If you've been here, you're on the black list for the rest of your life"]. Radio France (in French). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  8. ^ "80% of Manbij is liberated, 50 thousand civilians freed". Hawar News Agency. 2 August 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017.
  9. ^ "The assassination of Abu Ali Bard, in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour". www.jesrpress.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  10. ^ "YPG: War on ISIS continues". Rudaw. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  11. ^ "French army on the front line of 'final battle' against IS group". France 24. 10 February 2019.
  12. ^ "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIL's secretive leader, fended off internal coup attempt: report". National Post. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  13. ^ "سوريا الديمقراطية تسلّم بغداد "بنك معلومات" أشرف على معارك كوباني" (in Arabic). Kurdistan24. 21 May 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference key ISIL figure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Coalition airstrike kills prominent ISIS commander "Ahmed Jamil al-Sayed" in Baghuz camp". Reddit. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  16. ^ "Martyr Abdo Dushka forces are able to detonate a dummy ammunition car in Deir al-Zour". YouTube (in Arabic). 24 February 2019.
  17. ^ a b c Jared Szuba (29 March 2019). "ISIS's 'caliphate' was crushed. Now Syria's Kurd-led alliance faces bigger battles". Defense Post. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  18. ^ Wladimir van Wilgenburg (18 March 2019). "Italian volunteer killed in fight against ISIS". Kurdistan24. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  19. ^ Callimachi, Rukmini; Prickett, Ivor (6 February 2019). "A Desperate Exodus From ISIS' Final Village". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  20. ^ "French army on the front line of 'final battle' against IS group". France 24. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  21. ^ "'The fighting was intense': witness tells of two-day attempt to kill Isis leader". the Guardian. 10 February 2019.
  22. ^ @EyeEuphrates (3 March 2019). "Date: 03/03/2019 Activity: French Special Forces in #Baghouz, #Syria #ISIS @AFP @lemondefr @Le_Figaro…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "First RAF Typhoon use of Brimstone missile destroys ISIS boat in Syria". The Defense Post. 22 February 2019.
  24. ^ "Exclusive pictures of final Islamic State group bastion". BBC News.
  25. ^ "IS Poised to Lose Last Syrian Enclave". March 2019.
  26. ^ "Kurdish-led forces retake IS group hub in east Syria". France 24. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  27. ^ "B-1B up in the air pounding Daesh". Map of Syrian Civil War - Syria news and incidents today - syria.liveuamap.com. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  28. ^ "Another column, in Baguz village, of US Forces Cougar 4x4 TOW, Oshkosh and Humvees". Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  29. ^ "French guns on Iraq border aim to pin down IS diehards inside Syria " Capital News". Capital News. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  30. ^ "'Heavy clashes' as US-backed forces make final push against IS". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  31. ^ "French Nexter Aravis in Syrian village of Baghuz". Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  32. ^ Allison, George (9 April 2019). "Reaper strikes Islamic State fighters in a trench".
  33. ^ Rikar Hussein (9 February 2019). "US-backed Fighters Launch Final Push to Defeat IS in Syria". VOA News. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  34. ^ 19 killed (9-13 February),[1] 32 killed (16 February-16 March),[2], 14 killed (19 March),[3] total of 65 reported killed
  35. ^ 27 killed (9-13 February),[4] 55 killed (16 February-16 March),[5] 7 killed (2 March; against gov.),[6] 170 killed (19-23 March),[7] [8] total of 259 reported killed
  36. ^ "Details of the first month of ISIS fade and its retreat to tunnels and trenches of Baghuz, about 21400 of them are out, about 2800 members and 72 children are dead, and tens of others are killed". syriahr.com. 16 March 2019.
  37. ^ "12 ISIS members blow themselves up in Baghuz farms at a time when about 1000 of them surrender and SDF sweep the area". syriahr.com. 19 March 2019.
  38. ^ "With the declaration of victory over it east of Euphrates, hundreds of families of abducted people call on the Coalition and SDF to reveal their fate at ISIS". syriahr.com. 23 March 2019.
  39. ^ "US-Backed Force Says It's in Control of IS Syria Encampment". Voice of America.
  40. ^ Rempfer, Kyle (4 March 2019). "Final assault against ISIS camp launched Friday night and is still ongoing". Military Times.
  41. ^ "Hundreds Surrender in Last Islamic State Enclave as SDF Advance". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  42. ^ "Syria force locked in battle with IS jihadists in holdout village". France24.com. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  43. ^ Ben Wedeman; Hande Atay Alam; Ben Westcott. "Thousands of ISIS troops surrender amid attack on final stronghold in Syria". CNN.
  44. ^ "Bloody battle for last Isis territory nears end in Syria". The Independent. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  45. ^ "In conjunction with the continued full blackout on Baghuz camp's massacre in which 200 ISIS families were killed by Coalition strikes, renewed demands by SOHR to open an independent investigation about it • The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights". 22 March 2019.
  46. ^ How the U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians in Syria
  47. ^ "With the declaration of victory over it east of Euphrates, hundreds of families of abducted people call on the Coalition and SDF to reveal their fate at ISIS". 23 March 2019.
  48. ^ Cite error: The named reference italian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  49. ^ Ben Wedeman; Lauren Said-Moorhouse (23 March 2019). "ISIS has lost its final stronghold in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces says". CNN.
  50. ^ hermes (15 February 2019). "ISIS militants mount desperate last stand in 1-sq-km 'caliphate'". The Straits Times. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  51. ^ "The International Coalition continues its attack with the SDF on the last 4 square km remained for the organization that is collapsed almost completely amid fears for the lives of the citizens remaining in the area". The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 9 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  52. ^ "SDF attack Islamic State group's Syria enclave Baghuz". BBC. 10 March 2019.
  53. ^ Cite error: The named reference battleover was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  54. ^ Borger, Julian (14 November 2021). "US claims 2019 airstrike that hit Syrian women and children was justified". the Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  55. ^ Gritten, David (18 May 2022). "US military probe finds no wrongdoing in deadly Syria air strike". BBC. Retrieved 27 May 2022.