Reports that ISIS has lost its “last” stronghold in Syria may have been premature. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS has recaptured roughly half of the town of Abu Kamal.
Abu Kamal is the main border crossing into Iraq, where it links with al-Qaim, another town which recently fell to Iraqi forces from ISIS. Within eight hours of Syria reporting the capture of Abu Kamal, however, ISIS was attacking the city again.
While ISIS forces have mostly abandoned towns and cities in favor of fleeing into the desert to return to insurgency, they appear to want to keep Abu Kamal contested for now,and there are even reports from Hezbollah that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may be in the area.
With ISIS having abandoned most of the towns along the Euphrates with limited resistance, they likely can deploy large numbers of forces to keep contesting Abu Kamal. It’s not clear, however, why the town would still be so valuable, or how long they intend to keep contesting it.
“It’s not clear, however, why the town would still be so valuable, or how long they intend to keep contesting it.”
Why were the SAA and the Amerikastani proxies of the so called SDF racing for Al Bukamal? Because it’s on the Iraq Syria border and therefore a link between the two countries. The Imperialist States of Amerikastan is under orders from its Zionistani masters to stop Iran from establishing a presence in Iraq and Syria. Amerikastan has long played footsie with ISIS just as it is with al Qaeda – they’re objective allies and always have been. This is why the defeated ISIS suddenly acquired enough weapons and reinforcements to retake part of Al Bukamal. And this is the answer to the question of how long they intend to hold on to it – until their fellow terrorists of the SDF get there.
It’s simple to anyone who does not believe the official fairytales regurgitated by the imperial media prostitutes in Warshington.
Perhaps this is what the Russians and Syrians wanted. Another opportunity to fire up the Russian-Syrian Meat Grinder to kill yet more jihadists including any remaining Russians in ISIS. Make it appear that ISIS can have a miracle to restore its USP among jihadists and ISIS will go all in to achieve it.
The Wiki 2017 Abu Kamal Offensive entry indicates that its was the IS who lured the SAA into a trap, not the other way around.
City fighting is messy, and IS has had time to prepare it at least as well as a little Raqqa or Mosul.
Abu Kamal is the administrative centre of that district (Abu Kamal District). Holding the nearby border is mostly symbolic versus the larger and more naturally defensible small city from which the IS can draw draftees, fight, and stash weapons sheltered from heavy airstrikes.
The loss of Mosul diminished the value to the IS of holding the border itself. Whats more important is keeping warm the IS cauldron from Tayyannah to Abu Kamal, the strip of Euphrates.