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Raqqa Battle Nears End as ISIS Terrorists Surrender

The National Hospital is pictured from the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces at the frontline in Raqqa, Syria on October 8, 2017. (Reuters)
The National Hospital is pictured from the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces at the frontline in Raqqa, Syria on October 8, 2017. (Reuters)
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Raqqa Battle Nears End as ISIS Terrorists Surrender

The National Hospital is pictured from the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces at the frontline in Raqqa, Syria on October 8, 2017. (Reuters)
The National Hospital is pictured from the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces at the frontline in Raqqa, Syria on October 8, 2017. (Reuters)

Syrian ISIS members in Raqqa have started to leave the northern city in recent days, said a Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The removal of foreign ISIS fighters is being prepared.

"All Syrian fighters from the ISIS group left Raqa over the past five days," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, saying they headed to unknown destinations.

Some 200 ISIS members surrendered and they have left the area with their families, he added.

A local official revealed however that members of the terror group have surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He did not specify their numbers.

The Observatory had reported earlier that a convoy of buses had entered Raqqa to transport the remaining ISIS members and their families outside of the city.

A spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) stated that the forces combating ISIS in Raqqa are on the verge of defeating the group and declaring victory.

Nuri Mahmoud predicted that the announcement of the liberation of Raqqa will take place later on Saturday or on Sunday.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting ISIS said that some 100 fighters had surrendered in the city in the past 24. They have since been removed from the area.

"We still expect difficult fighting in the days ahead and will not set a time for when we think ISIS will be completely defeated in Raqqa," said coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon.

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced on Friday that the coalition will accept the surrender of ISIS members in Raqqa.

He added however that the surrender of the more radicalized members will not be accepted.

The international coalition estimated in a report on Thursday that some 4,000 civilians were still trapped in Raqqa. Most of them are being used as human shields by 300 to 400 ISIS terrorists.

Backed by coalition air strikes, the SDF succeeded in liberating nearly 90 percent of Raqqa, ISIS’ former stronghold in Syria.

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Arab World

Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
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Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

Some 29 Lebanese border villages have been “completely destroyed” by Israel, revealed Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International.

Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. Israel has been adopting this scorched earth policy since October in an attempt to set up a buffer zone along the border.

In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses followed by celebrations.

Chamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has destroyed 29 villages dotted across 120 kms from the Naqoura area in the west to Shebaa in the east.

The villages of Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Adeisseh, Houla, Dhayra, Marwahin, Mhaibib, and al-Khiam have been completely destroyed along with some 25,000 houses, he added.

Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.

Experts are in agreement that Israel is completely wiping out villages and all signs of life, including trees, to turn the area into a buffer zone so that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes.

They also believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home.

Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said Israel wants to be create a 3 km-deep buffer zone along its border with Lebanon.

Israel is destroying everything in that area, leaving it exposed so that any possible threat there can be easily spotted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

However, he remarked that Israel is not keeping its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and keep these areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.

The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.

“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.

Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.

So, what is taking place on the ground is in effect Israel just going to the extreme in violating international law, he added. “Its claims that it is targeting weapons and ammunition caches do not fool anyone because from a military standpoint, these caches are not stored along the border, but deeper in a country.”