ISIS News 2017: US Taking Out ISIS Fighters Who Attempt to Leave Syria-Controlled Territory
Syria-based U.S. aircrafts have taken out several ISIS fighters who remain trapped in the desert.
On Aug. 28, a group of ISIS fighters and their families departed the eastern side of the country following a cease fire.
According to reports, some 17 buses that carried around 300 to 500 fighters and their families left after the Syrian government forces and surrendering ISIS fighters reached an armistice. Although Hezbollah supported the said truce, the U.S. government reportedly went up against it. It was because of this objection that in the days that followed, the U.S. took out a bridge and a road to block the convoy from reaching its destination. It also started targeting all the vehicles and members of the convoy who would attempt to go too far from the area.
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In a statement, U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon said: "Whether it's to evade by foot or to relieve themselves, if they make it far enough out there for us to strike, then we will."
U.S. Defense officials also reported that around 11 buses have been stuck in the desert for the past few days after six of the convoy's vehicles turned back. These were filled with ISIS fighters and their families who were prevented by U.S. forces from leaving Syrian-controlled territory and reaching the ISIS stronghold in Deir ez-Zor.
As of recent reports, 40 vehicles have already been struck by U.S. airstrikes. Some of the vehicles came from Islamic State-controlled areas which had attempted to resupply the stuck convoy. However, resupply efforts from Syrian regime-controlled territory were permitted to continue on.
It seems that tension among the people in the group is also rising as Dillon reported some members of the American surveillance team picking up a fistfight among several of the stranded ISIS fighters.
Last week, Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition fighting ISIS, tweeted that the U.S. would "not allow this terrorist convoy to further approach Iraq's borders." He also said that "terrorists should be killed on the battlefield, not bused across Syria to the Iraqi border without Iraq's consent."
However, a recent report from The Hill said that at the request of Russian officials, surveillance on the convoy had been halted.
