Battle of Baghuz Fawqani
The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces, assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, 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 Islamic State in eastern Syria.
After corralling IS 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. The SDF officially declared final victory over the IS in Baghuz Fawqani on 23 March, marking the end of IS-controlled territories in Syria.
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.
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.
Background
Since September 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces had been waging a campaign to wrest territorial control from the Islamic State terror group in eastern Syria. The SDF's advances were supported by American, British, and French forces from the CJTF–OIR Coalition via close air support, French and American artillery, and American special forces assistance and oversight. The SDF launched its third and final phase of their campaign in September 2018, gradually capturing the remaining IS pocket of territory straddling the Euphrates river near the Iraq-Syria border. By 1 February 2019, IS was reduced to four square kilometers of territory, boxed in against the river with the SDF advancing from the northwest, Syrian government forces blocking river crossings, and Iraqi forces deployed to prevent cross-border infiltrations. The massive exodus of civilians complicated advances, with the SDF pausing its advance for almost 10 days prior to the battle. Within the 10 days preceding the battle, over 20,000 civilians fled the enclave.The SDF stated that a number of foreign hostages, including missing British journalist John Cantlie and the kidnapped Italian Jesuit priest Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, were possibly being held in the enclave.
On 9 February 2019, France's Defense minister Florence Parly visited Firebase Saham, a joint French-U.S. artillery fire support base near Al-Qa'im, Iraq that supported the SDF's anti-IS campaign. Meeting with French forces there, Parly told them not to be distracted and that France "is determined to complete this fight against those who have struck her," referring to IS terror attacks in France in recent years.
The battle
The Syrian Democratic Forces announced the decisive, "final battle" against the IS enclave on the evening of 9 February 2019. SDF forces participating in the offensive consisted of around 15,000 fighters, backed by Coalition artillery and close air support, along with assistance from special operations forces. It was initially estimated that IS still had around 400–1,000 of its most committed, battle-hardened jihadist fighters resisting to the bitter end, though general estimates still varied widely.Opening assault
The battle began with a heavy preemptive bombardment throughout the afternoon from SDF mortar teams and U.S. bombers, including B-1B Lancers, with intermittent sniper engagements and machine gun clashes throughout the day. Fighting continued into the night with the SDF only advancing until nightfall as Coalition flares illuminated the battlefield amidst numerous air raids and "constant" shelling of al-Baghuz Fawqani; local sources reported night fighting over the Baghuz-Bukhamal bridge as well. The SDF reported the deaths of 37 IS members along with the destruction of 19 enemy forward positions, four roads, one mortar piece, one motorbike, and one weapons cache during the preemptive bombardment.Throughout the night of 9 February and into the morning of 10 February, the SDF made early advances, seizing 41 tactical points within a total of 2 square kilometers of land while repelling an IS counterattack at 4 a.m. local. The SDF reported killing many IS fighters while only losing two of their own. They also reportedly secured a humanitarian corridor for 200 civilians to flee the fighting. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali, commenting on the reported secret negotiations between IS, the SDF, and the Coalition, stated that IS representatives had asked for safe passage out of the pocket. Bali said that the SDF would "fight until the very last minute"; however, American negotiators reportedly stated that safe passage to the Idlib Governorate, dominated by IS's rival Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was an offer still on the table. Meanwhile, commenting on the battle, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted "The U.S. will soon control 100% of ISIS territory in Syria."
By the morning of 11 February, another 1,500 civilians had fled the area in a column of 17 trucks filled with men, women, and children, some identifying as Iraqi. Hundreds of civilians continued to stream out of the enclave into SDF-Coalition makeshift screening centers established for filtering out fleeing jihadists. One YPG commander stated that some desperate IS militants would resort to wearing women's clothing when fleeing. " have been trying to escape in women's clothes," the commander said, that "some of them dress as women because we don't ask the women to raise their hijab."
The Coalition's combat missions continued; Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan stated the SDF were making "significant progress" despite poor weather conditions. Poor visibility such as overcast weather or dust storms typically benefited IS fighters as it concealed some of their ground deployments and hindered SDF-Coalition reconnaissance. The Coalition said that despite the poor weather, airstrikes were being called in "whenever possible". IS elements were entrenched and fortified, leaving the SDF to rely greatly on Coalition air power to soften defenses and dislodge strongpoints. The U.S. bombed a mosque in the town reportedly being used as an IS command and control center to direct attacks and deploy suicide car bombs against the SDF. "This mosque lost its protected status when ISIS deliberately chose to use it as a command and control center," the Coalition stated. The mosque strike came amid reports that IS was deliberately using human shields in order to deter Coalition targeting and impede the SDF's advance. Syrian state media reported that about 70 people were killed or wounded on the edge of the town after an airstrike hit a settlement where hundreds of people were taking shelter. A Coalition spokesman responded, "we are aware of open source reports of civilian casualties. We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously, and understand there is a lot of misinformation as well."
The sound of explosions and gunfire echoed dozens of kilometers away from the battlefield as intense Coalition airstrikes and SDF missile attacks continued; eyewitnesses described the mushrooming columns of white and dark grey smoke billowing over the skyline as warplanes and missiles streaked through the sky. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the SDF was advancing at a slower momentum than initially expected due to IS's usage of tunnels to navigate the battlefield along with deploying snipers, VBIEDs, anti-tank guided missiles, and land mines against the SDF, forcing them to simultaneously conduct de-mining operations with every advance. United States Central Command commander Gen. Joseph Votel, who oversaw the United States' Middle Eastern operations at the time, commented on the battle during a trip to Cairo. "It's a relatively confined space, it's heavily urbanized, it's laden with a lot of explosive hazards, improvised explosive devices for example, and kind of a prepared defense by ISIS," he said, emphasizing the asymmetric warfare commonly associated with fighting IS.
Estimates on the number of remaining IS militants in the enclave varied; SDF officials and SOHR estimated there were around 3,000 mostly foreign IS jihadists remaining, though previous Coalition estimates put the number at about half of that. On 10 February, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said up to 600 fighters were still present in Baghuz Fawqani proper. Reports of ongoing backdoor negotiations also persisted; an SDF source denied any such talks were happening, saying that the SDF demanded an unconditional IS surrender. Meanwhile, Italian media reported freelance photographer Gabriele Micalizzi was badly, though not critically, wounded in the head by splinters from a rocket-propelled grenade. Micalizzi was airlifted by the Coalition to Baghdad to be evacuated back to Italy. The Observatory said 13 IS militants, including five suicide attackers, were killed as well as six SDF fighters in recent fighting. 16 civilians were reported to have been killed in airstrikes by the end of 11 February.
Reduced momentum and continued civilian exodus
On 12 February, civilians continued to flee on the back of dusty trucks filled with women and children bound for SDF-run refugee camps in northeastern Syria, primarily al-Hawl. The civilian truck drivers said 18 foreigners were among the dozens of civilians fleeing with them, including Russians, Turks, and Ukrainians. Regional and international journalists clambered over the edges of the trucks to find non-Arabs among the civilians, some shouting "France? France?" One fleeing civilian, a mother of five, described the bombing as "unimaginable". "There was no food. We ate grass from the ground like sheep... Daesh had blocked the roads and smugglers wanted thousands of U.S. dollars," she added. Two Muslim-convert French mothers that paid to be smuggled out of the enclave stated that "massacres" were taking place inside the town while many others starved. Only Syrian and Iraqi women were allowed to be smuggled out, according to the women.Violent clashes continued throughout 12 February; Coalition airstrikes bombarded entire districts, such as the Sheikh Hamad neighborhood, as the SDF captured the Baghuz-Bukamal Bridge and made advances in the Al-Khanafirah neighborhood. A fleet of 15 vehicles carrying U.S. soldiers was seen reinforcing a secondary front line, meanwhile IS units used ambush tactics and fielded machine guns and anti-tank guided missiles against SDF positions. Local eyewitnesses said IS was using trash and tire fires to fill the skyline with thick smoke to complicate Coalition airstrike capabilities and to make the air harder to breathe for SDF troops. Syrian reporter Mushin Khalil reported at least 14 SDF fighters were killed on the 12th in an IS counterattack that involved a suicide bomber. At the end of the day, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali announced that IS controlled only 1 square kilometer of territory, and that all the people remaining there were IS militants and their families. Meanwhile, SOHR reported that U.S. officials demanded IS surrender 40 tons of stolen gold the group possessed in exchange for safe-passage to an "undisclosed location" during purported ongoing negotiations.
On 13 February, reports emerged that IS had executed more than 15 of its own fighters for attempting to surrender, seven of whom were French nationals. After clearing the Sheikh Hamad neighborhood, the SDF were able to break through IS defenses and capture the town center, forcing tens of IS jihadists to flee towards as-Safafinah with the rest of IS's militants held up at a nearby refugee camp near the town orchards. The SDF reported receiving 425 civilians fleeing the pocket within the past 24 hours by truck and by foot; some of the fleeing women – many of them wives of IS fighters – had gunshot wounds, likely from IS forces shooting at their own fleeing wives in hopes of using their families as both human shields and bargaining chips during negotiations. SDF and Coalition personnel singled out fleeing male civilians during processing and were reportedly using retinal scans, fingerprinting, and other biometric data gathering tools when screening them for jihadist ties. Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee stated 51 people had died on the way from the enclave to the Al-Hawl refugee camp or shortly after arriving, most in the past few weeks. The majority were toddlers or newborn babies dying from hypothermia via long treks through the cold desert terrain with their relatives.
On 14 February, journalists reporting outside of the town said things were "quiet" on their end, as the pace of the SDF's advance had slowed. A few civilians came out overnight – the smallest batch in weeks – according to one aid worker on site. An SDF official said that clearing operations were continuing while the day's fighting mainly took place on the town's northeastern axis where he added that combatants were fielding new "thermal weapons." The SDF reported capturing a clinic used for treating IS troops and a weapons cache full of ammo, including 10 mortars, an artillery piece, and a car bomb rigged with explosives on the northeast axis. SDF fighters on the southeastern axis reportedly discovered the bodies of 26 IS troops late 14 February, including that of a child soldier.
Rainy weather, fleeing civilians, and IS ambush tactics continued to bog down SDF advances on 15 February as engineering teams conducted continuous tunnel clearing and de-mining operations on the northeastern axis. Coalition surgical strikes were reportedly reduced to a maximum of two a day as Adnan Afrin, a SDF commander, said the SDF wanted to avoid "causing a massacre" due to IS bringing hundreds of civilian hostages out from tunnels in recent days. SOHR reported that a Coalition convoy of seven trucks, three ambulances and other vehicles headed towards the remaining IS-held area aiming to draw out the remaining jihadists and their families. At the end of the day, 200 IS fighters surrendered.