ISIS Overruns Parts of Key Syrian Town on Iraqi Border

ISIS has launched what is described as their biggest offensive in Syria of the year, with 10 suicide bombers on Friday starting a major offensive against the city of Albu Kamal. This is the main border crossing into neighboring Iraq.

The offensive appears to have been at least somewhat successful for ISIS, as reports are that by the end of Friday they had retaken multiple parts of the city, as fighting continues to rage in other parts. The size of the attacking force isn’t clear.

In addition to the 10 suicide bombers, 25 pro-government fighters, including both soldiers and militia members, were killed in the fighting. ISIS forces in Syria are believed to be around the Euphrates River area, in the sparsely populated deserts.

Being in those deserts has made them tough to target, as they’re spread out. It also has left ISIS within spitting distance of a number of important towns and cities on the Euphrates itself, including Albu Kamal. Today’s attack proves this means ISIS can continue to contest those areas when it believes it would be prudent to do so.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press. View all posts by Jason Ditz

One thought on “ISIS Overruns Parts of Key Syrian Town on Iraqi Border”

Don Bacon says:

June 9, 2018 at 10:55 am

from southfront

On June 9, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies repelled an ISIS attack on the strategic city of al-Bukamal near the Syrian-Iraqi border, in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside, according to the pro-government blog al-Masdar news.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that ISIS fighters withdrew from most of the positions they had captured north of al-Bukamal and said that the SAA had killed more than 16 fighters of the terrorist group. The pro-opposition monitoring group also claimed that 30 soldiers and officers of the SAA, Hezbollah and Iranian forces were killed around the city in the last 48 hours.
ISIS launched its attack on al-Bukamal from its positions on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, according to SouthFront’s source in the SAA. The terrorist group positions on the eastern bank are supposedly besieged and monitored by the US-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
This is the second attack of ISIS on al-Bukamal this month. Some experts say that the terrorist group is receiving at least indirect support from the US-led coalition.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that all ISIS strongholds in Syria are located in the coalition’s zone of responsibility. . . .here

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